Soragakure, The Hidden Village of Sky
by HarbingerLady
Summary: A new shinobi village is founded. Will its existance make difference to the shinobi world? Since there are many OC characters...there's a list inside and will be updated periodically. Chapter 22, And the exam commences
1. First Contact

Author's Note: This chapter has been edited by **KarinMS**. She had edited it months ago, but has only been updated just now. The same happened to the other next seventeen chapters.

Chapter One

First Contact

Naruto sighed for the tenth time today. His attempt to befriend the other kids was foiled…again. The parents were taking their children away the moment he walked to them and glared hatefully at him. He wondered why it happened to him… He knew that he had never done something bad to them, so that leaved an option where his relative—if he had any—had done something bad to them. But if that was true, certainly his relative couldn't have aggravated all of the villagers… They have even attempted to assassinate him 10 times! Those were the ones he knew off anyway. The ANBUs were always there when he was threatened, so maybe they have stopped many other assassinations that he didn't know about.

Those ANBUs appeared to be assigned to keep him safe. He wondered if he has enough value to have them watch him like a hawk. The only good thing happening to have those assassinations directed to him was that it motivated him to be stronger and have better senses at sensing someone walking closer to him. He didn't train like those ninjas who used kunais, shurikens or jutsus. He only trained to strengthen his body to have endurance, and also speed. He was good at running and dodging. He always escaped when his fist failed to protect him. Being a kid definitely sucked. His body wasn't strong enough to knock out an adult. The only thing he could do was to bruise them, and it seemed to infuriate his attackers more. If he then failed to escape, some ANBUs with their masks on would come for his help. The attackers would then run away, but Naruto frowned when those ANBUs didn't chase them. They only watched them leave and then vanished. Why didn't they capture those bad people and punish them? Certainly there were some laws regarding child abuse. It was like the ANBUs themselves wanted him to be killed and that they were only forced to save him. He was confused with this.

At the age of 5 Uzumaki Naruto already understood his surrounding better than any other kid. He didn't know why he was brighter than the other children. He was certainly not a genius, but he matured quicker than the other kids. Probably it was because he was lonely, so he was more perceptive, because he used his time to reminiscence every thing that happened around him, while the others were pampered by their parents.

He always wanted to run from the village, but he was still a kid, and there was no doubt on his mind that he could easily be killed in the wilderness. Sometimes he wondered why he wasn't left in the wood when he was a baby, knowing how much the villagers hated him.

The blond haired kid sighed again.

A growl interrupted his musing. He quickly stood up from the ground where he laid and looked around frantically. _What was that?_ He backed away from the woods.

"**At last… I can speak with you, boy," **a deep rumble voiced out. He whipped his head around, trying to find the source of the voice. It really creeped him out. He heard another growl that he identified as an amused chuckle. It was an animalistic voice. He didn't know how he could translate something that seemed to be rubbish to most other people. His mind quickly darted to that of Inuzuka clan. They were shinobis that could communicate with dogs. But certainly he wasn't from that clan, was he?

"Who's there? Where are you? Show yourself coward!" he shouted in fear.

"**Stupid boy, I am inside you."**

"I-inside me?" Naruto stammered, certainly he imagined that voice. Maybe he had finally cracked under the pressure of all of those assassinations.

"**Yes, inside you. I was sealed inside you when you were just a newborn."**

"Sealed…inside me? When I was just born?" Naruto's mind quickly processed this information. Something was sealed inside him, meaning that it was a spirit or something like that. And it was sealed when he was just born… He was born at 10 October. At the time Kyuubi was attacking… Konoha. He gulped when he realized it.

"**Very good, boy. You're right. I am indeed the nine tails fox demon**." The demon appeared to be pleased at his quick mind.

"B-but you're supposed to be killed by the Fourth!" he shouted, not wanting to admit that it was true.

"**Don't deceive your own mind, boy. You have already realized that the tale isn't true. The truth was that I was sealed inside you and the villagers hated you, thinking that you were me**."

Naruto opened his mouth, but closed it again. Everything became clear now. Why the villagers hated him, why they wanted to kill him… The only thing he didn't understand was why the ANBUs were assigned to keep him safe.

"**It was because the leader of this pathetic village ordered to keep you safe despite the protests from the villagers,"** Kyuubi answered his question. Naruto's legs grew weak and he dropped to his knees. This didn't happen to him. This… couldn't be… For the first time since he was 3 years old, Naruto cried out loud.

The fox snorted at his display of weakness. "**Shut up!"** He snapped. The boy quickly stopped crying his heart out, but he was still sniffing.

"W-why did you just decide to c-contact me now of all times?" he hiccupped.

"**It was because of the interference of that stupid seal of yours. I have had a hard time altering it inside you. Now listen to what I want to say to you!"**

Naruto nodded. He brought his knees closer to his chest and prepared to listen to whatever the fox demon wanted to say.

"**I really don't like to be humiliated!"** The fox snarled disdainfully. Naruto jerked at his sudden anger. "**The moment those filthy humans started beating you, throwing you trash, and every other thing they have ever done to you; I am humiliated! I am Kyuubi, one of the Great Beasts, and shouldn't be treated like trash!"** The demon paused for a moment. "**I wanted my greatness to be recognized, but I also understand that I couldn't be free from this seal because it was Shinigami himself who sealed me inside you. And that was why… you, my boy, will be my messenger!"**

"Your…messenger?" the blond kid asked confusedly.

"**Yes, you have to prove yourself to everyone that you; the vessel of the nine tails fox demon, are strong! If the people know that you're strong, they would know that I'm not someone to be trifled with. They will learn to fear me from you."**

"You don't mean to make me kill people to prove myself, do you?" Naruto gulped.

A snort was his answer. "**You will kill someone eventually. There are many people who want you dead, and you have to kill them if you want to survive. But even if you didn't slaughter them, there is another way. Prove your strength as my vessel. Founding a strong village would be a good way!"**

"Founding a village?" Naruto shouted in disbelief. "How in the hell could I do that? I am only a kid. And founding a village will be hard. What about the resources, money, the people? Why can't I just prove myself as a strong shinobi rather than founding a village?"

"**Shut up, boy, and listen to me until I'm finished with my explanation! Becoming a strong shinobi is indeed a good way, but you're still a human. You have a limit and with people wanting you dead you will be hunted by many. Do you think you could handle all of them? If you have a village, you will have something to back you up when you're tired. And for resources… don't forget that I'm a great demon. I could help you with those. And for the people for your village…you will find many of them in Water country. That country had a civil war and people with bloodlines were shunned there. Yes, people that were just like you. They would be easy to recruit if you could give them a safe haven. Of course you have to prove that you are stronger than them before they would obey you. You could also recruit orphans that were left alone to fend for themselves. There are many of them after the Great Wars between the shinobi villages." **Kyuubi paused to let his explanation sunk on his brain before proceeding.** "So, how's that?"**

"I-I," he stammered.

"**How is that, boy?"** The demon snapped.

"You'll help me, right?" the nine tails grinned.

"**Yes, I will."**

"Then I agree. I'll prove myself that I, Uzumaki Naruto, vessel of the nine tails, am strong," Naruto stood up and said firmly. His eyes shone with determination.

TBC…

Review, please.


	2. The Training Field

Author's Note: this edited version is thanks to **KarinMS**.

Chapter Two

The Training Field

"**Since you've already agreed with me, then listen to what I say, boy**." Naruto nodded. "**Good. You can't leave this place without any preparation. Your speed is good for a kid your age, but you can't survive outside there on your own**." The boy sighed dejectedly. He already knew about it. After all, that was the only thing that held him back from escaping this place.

"**You have to train yourself to be stronger. I don't expect you to be strong enough to beat a high ranking shinobi, but I want you to at least be able to hunt for your own food and also be good enough to hide your tracks. Wouldn't want ANBU or hunter-nin to capture you just as you left this accursed village, would you? If they catch you, all of this would be over. You would be persecuted!"** The boy gulped knowing that it was true. The villagers wouldn't let him get away from that.

"**That is why we need to prepare for this carefully. Now do you understand what I've said?"**

"Hai, Kyuubi-sama," Naruto shouted, causing the great fox to twitch in annoyance.

"**Don't call me that, boy!"** The blonde fidgeted in fear, wondering what he has done wrong. He felt the fox sighed inside him. "**You're my messenger and for that you could call me by my true name; Soramaru."**

His bright blue eyes lit up. "Hai Soramaru-sama!"

"**You don't need to yell out loud, boy. I could hear you perfectly. In fact, when I'm talking with you; reply inside your head so people won't get suspicious**."

Naruto nodded and smiled. He was glad that the fox didn't hate him, knowing that he was his prison. He was also glad that he took care of him, even if it was for his own advantage, not for him. What was important for him was that he could get out of this village and to be stronger.

"**Before I start to train you however, you need to perform a jutsu**," the fox told him.

"Eh, what jutsu? And why?" he tilted his head curiously.

"**You better start talking to me inside your mind since now, boy. And to answer your question; it is a jutsu that allows you to make a clone that could take many hits without poofing out, since the filthy people seem eager to beat you. It is a high level jutsu and for a kid your age it would be impossible to perform since they don't have the chakra capacity needed to use it. But with a bit of my chakra, it would be easy,**" he paused. "**The problem is that your body couldn't handle my chakra for so long, so you have to perform it quickly. With time and many practices, your body will adapt and it would be easier for you to handle my chakra."**

"**And as to why… do you know that your old leader have a means to spy on people inside his village?"**

"What? Is that true?" Naruto asked surprised.

"**Yes, and that is why you have to make a clone; so when he tries to spy upon you, he will look at your clone instead. He doesn't need to know about our plan after all. And for nine tails' sake, start talking inside your mind!**" He growled behind the bars.

"H-," he stopped. /I mean; Hai Soramaru-sama/ He paused. /May I ask you something/

"**What is it?"**

/How many times do I have to make a clone?/ he asked carefully, wary of offending the great beast.

"**It depends on how much chakra I pour into the clone, but a fatal blow would dissolve it into smoke. The stronger you become, the stronger your clone would be, but for now I'll give enough chakra to supply your clone for 2 days. Find a secluded area far from any civilization for your training field and come back here to renew your clone every 2 days. We will start the training tomorrow. Today, you'll spend your day memorizing the hand seals and to make them as quick as possible**."

Kyuubi sent an image of hand seals—none which were familiar to the blonde—to his mind. The vessel of the great beast spent the rest of his day memorizing them and doing them as quick as possible. The thought of getting out of this village motivated the boy to train very hard. When the sun had set in the west, the boy could do the seals without even thinking for a bit. The images of the hand seals had been imprinted on his brain and his hands could perform the hand seals automatically. The fox gave a satisfied nod and ordered him to go home and pack food's worth of 2 days, since he couldn't hunt for himself right now. Of course the fox would remedy that situation soon.

Naruto did as the fox told and packed some instant ramens. Since it was already late, Kyuubi told him to pack other things the next day. The fox forbid him to pack more food saying that he needed to train himself in eating as little food as possible, knowing that it was hard to get food in wilderness. With some reluctance, the boy agreed.

For the first time in years, Naruto slept peacefully and with a smile plastered on his face.

The next morning, around 3 a.m., the blond kid woke up and felt a bit confused, thinking that maybe it was only a dream. The fox's sudden voice on his mind startled him. He grinned when he realized that it wasn't a dream after all. He quickly took a bath and happily ate a bowl of instant ramen. When he was finished he washed the eating tools and stood up.

"**Do it now, boy**!" Naruto nodded and his hands automatically performed the seals he had memorized yesterday. He clenched his teeth when he felt the fox's chakra gather inside him, flowing from his belly to his hands and made them glowed red for a moment. He winced when he performed the last seal. A burst of red chakra poured out and something poofed in. Naruto fell to the floor beneath him, feeling very tired and sore. He panted heavily, but grinned when he saw his clone in front of him. The clone helped him get back on his feet.

The blond boy wiped the sweat from his forehead, before he inspected his clone. It was very similar to him; starting from his clothes, hair, height, and down to his whisker marks. He nodded, feeling satisfied.

"**Good, now you can train. Find a secluded place, preferably with water nearby. If there is a waterfall it will be better**."

"Waterfall?" Naruto tried to find the right place from his memory. Since he was hated by the villagers, he liked to wander around Konoha. He had been to many places around the village, even if he still didn't dare to venture far more than 20 kilometers from the wall guarding Konoha. He had found a way to get out of the village without going through the gate, which was very fortunate, since he knew that the guards there wouldn't let him got out.

He then looked up with joy when he remembered that he knew a place that was exactly like what the fox wanted. When he was 4 years old, he had stumbled upon a cliff with a moderate waterfall. There was a small lake and a river full of fishes there, and also forest around it. Inside the forest, not very far from the river, was a small clearing, perfect for him to set up a tent. He was in love with that place, but never went back there since it was almost 30 kilometers from the village. It was one of the few times he has ever dared to venture beyond the limits he has set up. And it was quite fortunate that he had instinct and a small bit of animal sense, because if he didn't, he would obviously get lost. It was quite usual for him to go missing for days. The first time he got out of the village was when he was almost 4 years old; 2 ANBUs caught him a kilometer from the village and sent him back. He kept doing it and so did the ANBUs, each time the ANBU would bring him back in after a longer time or he would get back on his own, until the time limit for him to be out of the village was now 3 days. Of course in that time, he packed many foods unlike this time.

Since it was quite far from the village, the ANBUs wouldn't notice if he started a fire to cook there. From what he had learned so far, the patrols only patrolled 20 kilometers around the village.

/Soramaru-sama, may I know what training I will get?/ he asked inside his mind softly.

"**For now I want to train your speed, strength, senses, and also accuracy. But to train your accuracy you need weapons like kunai or shuriken, something that you don't have. When the merchants come to this village, you have to buy weight bands, kunai, shuriken and possibly clothes that are more adequate for training**," Soramaru replied.

The merchants from outside were the only places where Naruto could buy his necessities, like his instant foods and clothes, with the money he got from Sandaime every 2 weeks. The shops in the village would just throw him out. Naruto knew that it was because they didn't know that he was the Kyuubi's vessel or even if they knew that he was, they weren't bothered by it since they didn't know first hand how terrifying Kyuubi could be. The merchants arrived in Konoha every 2 weeks and he had 12 days until that time came around.

/What? But I don't have enough money to buy those things. The money I got from old man Sarutobi is only enough for food for 2 weeks and sometime more when I need new clothes,/ Naruto said dejectedly.

"**That is why I will train you hard in these first weeks. I want you to be good enough to hunt animals like rabbit, squirrel and other small animals. You can eat their meat and collect their skins. You could sell them to the merchants and buy things for the money you'll get. I know that they would buy them for a high prize as long as you keep the fur in excellent state; since you have seen some hunters do it. When you have bought the weapons, you could hunt much bigger animals like deer or, if you lucky enough; a bear, if you didn't get killed by it of course**," the fox added with a smirk, causing the boy to pout.

"**For now, since you don't have any weapons, just bring some knives and other sharp objects with you**." Naruto nodded and quickly searched them on his kitchen. He found 10 common knives of different sizes, a sickle, a machete, and 2 stilettos. He put back 2 of the knives for him to use when he would come back every 2 days.

He also brought with him a simple fishing rod; a gift from Sandaime when he was 4 years old, and some extra tackle. He was quite good at fishing actually and whenever he got out of the village he always brought it with him to get some fish for food. After all he didn't eat only ramen during those days he was missing. It wouldn't be a problem for him who was used to camping outside on his own for days. The difference was that he would camp in one place for longer time, so he would make the place as comfortable as he could. He packed 2 boxes of matches, a lighter, 3 boxes of candles, some cooking utensils; such as a frying pan, 2 plates, 2 bowls, some spoons, forks, chopsticks, 2 mugs and other cooking tools.

When he was camping before this, he didn't bring that many cooking utensils, but now since it was more permanent he thought that he needed to bring more than usual.

He picked up his clock from his bedside, and put it in his dark blue backpack. Some empty scrolls, pens and quills also joined the pile. He also took some ropes and half of his clothes. Frowning, he contemplated whether he needed to bring his blanket too. Shrugging, he grabbed it with a smile. One would have to wonder how in the hell the boy could stuff all of them inside a backpack even if it was quite big. Some thoughts later, he stuffed other things inside. The last thing he got was a small yellow tent completed with its camping sets, such as ropes, pegs and a pocketknife. It was a gift from Sandaime too, when he was 5 years old, knowing how much Naruto liked to get away from the village. He strapped it tightly to the outside of his backpack.

He changed his daily clothes into thicker and more durable clothes; such as blue pants, a black shirt that has hood on it and then a smaller version of the jounin vest. Like the tent, it was his 5th years old birthday gift. He grabbed his backpack and lifted it, only to grit his teeth when it didn't budge at all. He frowned, and then using much more force he lifted it to his back. His legs grew wobbly and he had to use all of his strength, so he wouldn't fall.

"…**Are you sure you want to bring all of those things?**" The fox asked amusedly. He had watched in silence as his host packed all things and found it entertaining. It was quite comical to see the boy run around the flat to grab everything and stuff them inside a backpack, only to realize in the end that he couldn't move around with it. "**You're not planning to move out, are you?"** he added. "**The ANBU will notice you before you could get out by that huge bundle you're bringing with, and not to mention you can't move fast with it**."

His host grumbled before sighing in annoyance. He put down the backpack, unstrapped the tent from the bag and opened it. He took out all of the not so important things (his clone help to put all of them back to their places, thankfully) and when it was over, he quickly organized his backpack once more. This time it was much lighter and he could lift it. The bag would weigh him down after hours, but he could still move around with it. He thanked God that he was a stamina freak or else he would die from the weight first before he could even train.

It was already around 6 a.m. and Naruto, not wanting to waste more time, exited his flat. His clone waved its hand and closed the door when he was out of sight.

Walking as silent as he could, Naruto headed toward the hole in West wall; the only place he could sneak out of the village without walking through the gate. When he exited the village he usually didn't sneak like this since the guards knew that it was a routine. But he had left his clone in place of him, and he didn't want anyone to know that there were 2 Narutos now. With Kyuubi's help, he could hide when some shinobis were near.

When he was already outside of the wall, Naruto breathed a sigh of relief, but he knew he couldn't be careless now, since there were patrols outside. He quickly ran with all his might. His backpack weighed him down, but thankfully the fox gave him a boost of power so he didn't slow down. Soramaru would alert him if there were people in the range of 100 meters and because of his warning he could dodge the patrols so far.

Usually when he camped out those patrols would simply let him go without talking until Sandaime told them to fetch him back. But today, he didn't want anyone to know that he went outside the village.

Almost an hour later he arrived in the clearing. He put his blue backpack there and went toward the waterfall since the demon inside him wanted to see it. The water sparkled as it reflected the light, and inside it many fishes were swimming around. He reached the bank of the small lake where the water from the waterfall pooled around. Some droplets of water splashed onto his body and he wiped it off with a smile. He drank the water inside the lake to satisfy his thirst. Inside him the fox gave a nod of satisfaction and told him that this place was good enough. He ordered the blonde to start arranging his camp.

Smiling at his agreement, Naruto went back to the clearing and started to assemble the tent. It was easy for him since he has done it many times before. He went to the river and brought back some dry stones with him to his camp. He arranged those stones in a circle right in the center of the clearing, rather away from his tent, and put branches, twigs and dry leaves inside it. He tied together the rest of the branches with a rope and put it beside his tent. Then with a branch in his hand he started to make a duct around his tent, so if it was raining the ground inside his tent would remain dry.

He took out a thick cloth from his backpack and spread it over the ground beneath his tent. He took out his vest and changed his pants into shorts and then put his bag inside the tent before closing his tent so the animals couldn't get inside and ruined it. Next, Naruto went to the river again. This time he dug a small 1-meter deep pond, 5 meters away from the river and then he made a tunnel that connected the pond and the river. He hadn't finished the tunnel yet when he left to find some strong branches and vines. With his pocketknife, he cut the vines and used them to tie the branches rather closely but still big enough to let water get through it and small enough so the fishes couldn't get out. He finished the tunnel and water started to rush inside his pond. Some fishes got caught on the flow and were trapped inside the pond. When there were 7 small and 4 big fishes, Naruto closed the pond with what he had just built. He practically caged the fishes inside. It took him hours to build the pond without metal tools and only using branches or rocks and even his own hands. He was tired, but was happy when it was finished.

Knowing that his host was tired and it was only his first day, Kyuubi told the kid to rest while he explained to the kid about his training and then also a bit of theory about chakra and how to apply it. Naruto chose to use his resting time to go fishing. He searched for worms to use as bait while listening to the fox. He decided to build another pond, much smaller than the previous one, this time only a meter away from the river and made a much smaller tunnel that connected the smaller pond to the bigger pond. That way he didn't need to go back and forth from the river and the bigger pond just to put the fish he caught.

Naruto listened to Kyuubi and asked some questions on his own for 2 hours, he was only interrupted occasionally when his fishing rod caught a fish. He would grab the fish and throw it to the smaller pond, where the fish would try to get out by swimming in the tunnel (only to find itself trapped inside the bigger one afterwards). When the fox felt that it was enough time for him resting, he ordered the boy to stand up and search for a big boulder. Knowing exactly what the demon wanted to do with the boulder, since he has explained it already, Naruto complied. He took a boulder that weighed slightly less than his backpack and tied it around his back with a rope.

"**Start running until the sun has set in the west!"** The fox instructed. Naruto nodded and started to run following the direction of the river. He ran for hours and stopped occasionally to drink and then started to run again when Kyuubi barked out. His body was covered by sweat and grime that he got when he fell (aside from when he built the ponds). His legs were shaky and he was relieved when he was back in the camp.

He released the boulder beside his tent and then fell on his knees, panting. He lay on the ground to catch his breath and rest, only to be interrupted by a growl from his stomach. Groaning, he took a net from his bag and went to his pond. He was glad that he remembered to bring it, since it would be difficult to catch the fish even if it was trapped inside a pond, since it was already dark. Catching 2 small fish, he quickly went back to the clearing and started the fire. He killed the fish and cut them with his knives on a flat surfaced stone he has found before putting it on the frying pan and cooked the fish. He swore to buy spices and other things from the merchants the next time they came around when he realized that his stock was empty and even those he had, he left in his flat. His fish were too tasteless.

Inside his belly, Kyuubi rolled his eyes.

Naruto cleaned his dishes in the river and then changed his clothes to a clean pajama. He stretched his body and then entered his tent. He slept soundlessly that night.

His first day of training was over…

He had a sweet dream that night not knowing that the demon inside him was cackling heavily, mulling about what kind of training he would bestow upon the small boy.

TBC…

Don't forget to leave your review!


	3. Chapter Three

Author's Note: This chapter is edited by **KarinMS.**

Chapter Three

The Merchants

Alright, he couldn't believe that he agreed to be trained by a fox demon. He must have gone senile and his mind was already cracked. If this was going to continue he would be killed before he could even get out of the village, much less build a village of his own!

The blonde was already out of breath and he was nowhere near the surface. He was completely fucking drowning in the middle of a bloody cold lake, with a boulder as big as him strapped onto his back no less. He waved his hands and legs frantically, but his hectic movement only got him tired instead of reaching the lake surface.

/Soramaru-samaaaaa, heeeeellllppp meeeeeeee!/ he cried out inside his mind.

"**Geez, boy! Can't you do anything right?**" The demon fox sighed inside its cage. Red chakra quickly poured from its cage and started to envelop Naruto's body. "**You can breathe now**." Naruto complied, even though he thought that Soramaru had gone bonkers. He blinked when he realized that he indeed could breathe. "**I will only give you chakra to breathe for 5 minutes to figure out how to breathe underwater yourself. And for your health I suggest you start moving, you are sinking deeper!" **The fox demon barked.

/What? How in the hell can I figure it out if you don't tell me how to do it?/ Naruto shouted frantically as he sunk deeper.

"**Figure it out yourself! I'm not your babysitter. I'll give you a hint though. Concentrate and feel how I manipulated your chakra so you could breathe! And for demon's sake, I want to remind you that you're on the base of lake now**." It growled irritated.

The only thing Naruto wanted to do right now was to torture the fox demon, alas his life was more important right now. Stupid fox, how can he feel chakra inside him when the demon didn't even explain how to do that! The only thing the fox had done for over 9 days since he made his camp was killing him slowly by any means necessary. Not to mention that he only got an hour of sleep each day because it continuously drove him to train. Even if he was a stamina freak, it was too much! The only things the fox would do were exhaust him, lecture him, and oh yeah… boost his stamina with its chakra as little as possible. It was sealed inside him less than 6 years ago and his body, even if it had adapted, still need more time so it wouldn't endanger him when he used the fox's chakra. And it couldn't boost him every time or else his body wouldn't stand the strain.

Kyuubi hadn't started his shinobi training and instead chose to build his body first and learning about how to hunt. He hadn't tried to hunt anything bigger than rabbit since the fox told him that he wasn't ready yet. He took the fur he got from the animal he hunted and took great care of it under the fox's instruction. It was hard the first time, but he improved and now was used to it. His intensive training really took a lot of his energy and so he ate more meat to replace it. And that meant more rabbits to hunt. Thankfully he had found a small meadow full of rabbits 14 kilometers from his camp. Every day he would run there (with a boulder strapped to his back per the demon's order) and hunted some of the small furry animals for food. He had collected enough furs to make a medium sized blanket and he hoped that the money he would get for the furs would cover all of his extra expenses. Well at least now he didn't have to worry about using his money for food since he could easily find it himself. But he still wanted to buy ramen…

"**Boy, stop daydreaming or you'll be killed from lack of air for sure!"** Startled, Naruto gulped water and coughed. "**Fine I'll give you another 5 minutes to figure it out**."

Naruto sighed inwardly in relief and started to concentrate. After a minute of silence, he blinked when he realized that his heart beat slower than usual.

"**Don't forget that you're still at the bottom of the lake! The oxygen inside you will soon run out. Your goal is to get out of the lake**." That was when everything clicked. The beast was using his chakra to manipulate the oxygen circulation inside his body. The problem was how he did it. And judging from what it said it meant that even with its enormous power he couldn't make him breathe underwater forever.

/Ne Soramaru-sama, did you use your chakra to slow my organs down so I could breathe?/ Naruto guessed. If it were the organs then it would surely make sense.

Inside its cage the great beast was smiling… or smirking… take your pick!

"**Indeed, boy! I didn't expect you to know about it, since the meaning of this lesson was to make you use your chakra to reinforce your body. I'm planning on making you learn how to breathe underwater when you're out of this village actually**." The beast tapped its paw to the floor. "**You have 2 minutes until the oxygen run out."**

/What? Shit./ Naruto looked around frantically. The fox had told him what chakra was, but it never trained him on how to use the chakra so he was in a pretty deep shit. Inside him the fox yawned lazily, revealing its sharp teeth. The blonde boy cursed.

"**Now, now… why don't you concentrate on how to get out of this lake instead of using your merry time to curse me?"** It said cheekily and snorted. "**Close your eyes!"** It instructed at last.

Naruto complied. "**Now, do you feel that there is something warm enveloping your body?"**

/I can only feel cold because of the water!/ Naruto cried out.

"**Not that, you fool! Inside your body, not outside! Sheesh!"** The fox glared harshly.

/Isn't that only heat that my body gives off?/ Naruto asked confusedly.

Kyuubi grabbed the iron bars on its cage tightly with its claws. "**What I meant inside; something that feels like a living thing, idiot! And I had just thought that you're smart!" **It snarled sarcastically. "**And now there is only 1 minutes before you've completely drowned!"**

Naruto grumbled. He stared above him and saw that the range between the surface and the bottom was quite large. He could only hope that the oxygen wouldn't run out before he reached the surface.

He needed to do something to the boulder first. Something that had to do with chakra, judging from how the fox wanted him to understand how to use chakra. Couldn't the fox give him an easier task for the first time?

Maybe he could just left—

"**If you throw away the boulder, there is no point doing in this task, you fool!"**

/Look! I don't know how to use chakra! Can't I just leave this task and do it later when I'm prepared?/

"…**Fine! But you'll have to double the size of the boulder for this!"**

/Can't I just… I don't know… take this from step to step?/ Naruto pleaded.

"**No time for that. I want you to get out of this village as soon as possible."**

Sigh… /Fine…/ Naruto unfastened the rope that strapped the boulder to his back and quickly swam to the surface. He quickly took off his clothes and hung them on a thin branch. Shivering, he quickly used the towel to dry himself off. He started the fire afterwards and went as near as he could to the warmth the fire gave off.

He was starting to regret agreeing to be trained…

_2 days later_

Naruto was back in Konoha. He had just received the money from Sandaime. The old Hokage noticed that he had grown out of his old clothes and gave him extra money, much to the boy's pleasure.

He went to the merchants and proceeded to ask for his furs' potential buyer first. The merchants he asked told him to see Rei, a kind old woman who sold clothes. When he confronted her, she asked him to bring her the furs so she could check it out. Naruto nodded and told her that he would come back later at evening, before he went to buy the weapons he needed from another merchant.

The blond boy used almost all of his money to buy four 20 pounds weight bands for his ankles and wrists, some kunais and shurikens, and wires under the fox's instruction. The merchant gave him a sharpening stone as bonus. The Kyuubi's vessel was happy to receive it and he thanked the merchant who smiled back.

Remembering about his tasteless food he cooked, Naruto used the rest of his money to buy spices and even three cooking books, much to Soramaru's exasperation. He commented that they weren't important and asked about what was wrong with meat without spices. He certainly didn't have a problem eating raw meat, much less unseasoned meat. The boy retaliated that he was human and ignored the rest of what Soramaru said.

Naruto went back to his small apartment and put what he had bought in his backpack. He spent his afternoon listening to the fox's lecture about making efficient traps. The demon wanted him to quickly build traps to hunt bigger animals like deer.

After it became evening, Naruto took a bundle of rabbit furs and went back to the old lady. The woman examined it for a moment before nodding in approval. She paid him high for the excellent furs he brought her and asked if he could bring her more when she came back later. Of course the child agreed. He asked whether she would take deer skin, because it was likely that he would get some of it later. She said that she would take it. Naruto wanted her to someday make him some clothes from the furs he brought, which she would gladly do.

When he got his payment, Naruto quickly asked to buy some clothes for daily use and for training. The old lady searched for clothes that would suit him. She found two jackets, one blue and the other dark red, three pair of pants that matched the jackets (materials and colors), one pair of loose black pants, two dark blue shorts, four T-shirts and two pairs of sandals. When he paid for it, he spent half of his payment. He was glad to see that he still had extra money that was even more than his 2 weeks fund, because Kyuubi had told him in his house that he thought that he needed to get more weapons.

In the end of his shopping, Naruto got himself more kunais and shurikens, two 30 pounds weight wristbands, a bottle of sleeping potion, a bottle of poison that could petrify animals and humans after 5 minutes administering, and lastly two spears. He also bought 14 instant ramens. He wanted to eat a bowl of ramen everyday.

The next day he sneaked out of the village with his clone acting as him like usual. He told his clone to get out of the village once in awhile so to not arouse suspicion on why he suddenly never camped out of the village.

In his camping spot, he smiled happily. The real training would begin today.

TBC…

Well, what are you waiting for? Push the button on the bottom left!


	4. Chapter Four

Author's Note: Still edite by **KarinMS**.

Chapter Four

Leaving Konoha

It had been 6 months since the first time Naruto heard Kyuubi's voice. It had been 6 months since the fox trained him like crazy. And it had been 6 years since the fox demon attacked Konoha. Uzumaki Naruto was now respectfully 6 years old today.

Today was 10th October, it's been 6 years since Kyuubi's attack on Konoha; Naruto's birthday. Today more ANBUs than usual were stationed to guard him.

Today, the blonde would feel the full force of hatred from Konoha's citizens. The insults, glares, abuse and murder attempts would increase ten-fold from the usual; which was quite a feat considering how many assassination attempts he got in a normal week. Usually, he would hate his birthday. Normally, he would stay inside his apartment and lock himself in his bedroom to hide from the glares and thrown objects that he would receive. But today, Naruto stood proudly outside his home, chatting merrily with merchants that coincidentally were staying in Konoha today.

He was safe there. All merchants present knew Naruto and fortunately all of them liked him. Among the merchants, he didn't need to mask his happiness, because he was truly happy. Everyone knew him as an energetic boy who liked to play with their children (Kyuubi let him play with merchants' children instead of training because of his knowledge that Naruto was still a child and needed to have friends, otherwise he would have psychological problems later) and kept them in high spirits. He knew each merchant personally given that he always liked to help them; whether it was arranging their goods or simply giving messages to one another. The blonde boy was well known there. He would be given discounts if he purchased anything from them, and thus Naruto could save more money for his journey. Some merchants even gave him gifts occasionally. The blacksmith for example, always gave Naruto two kunais and five shurikens when he arrived at Konoha. The old lady, who Naruto always approached when in need of clothes, would always fix his torn (because of training) clothes and even give him free clothes when she concluded that his clothes were beyond repair. The day the merchants came was the happiest day Naruto ever had. They accepted him and more importantly, they liked him.

They didn't care if Naruto was the supposed delinquent of Konoha (some villagers warned them like that because they couldn't say that he was Kyuubi's vessel). For them he was a nice child who was lonely and misunderstood.

Naruto told them why the villagers hated him when they asked. Of course he twisted it into his own version. He told them that his relative went berserk and killed many people of Konoha and they blamed him for it. Of course this enraged the merchants. After all, it wasn't his fault to have a relative like that. This caused them to drift apart from the villagers who gave Naruto evil glares. They would be polite to them, but that was the end of it. They wouldn't associate with them.

This made some villagers furious and the assassination attempts were increased. ANBUs were hard pressed to do their best to guard Naruto without killing the villagers, but Naruto didn't care. He was used to the citizens' treatment and it made no difference. The important thing was that there were people who accepted him and he was happy to be with them. When they moved out of Konoha the next day, children would have tears in their eyes and ask Naruto to promise them that he would be there when they came back. Naruto would ruffle their hair and promise them and the parents would smile at the scene. He would give each child two crafted wooden toys when they left. Usually they would be in the shape of a fox or bird. He was trained by one of the merchants to make these and even got the carving tools for free.

Naruto only told the real version to Rei, the old lady and the unofficial leader of the merchants. He was afraid at first for her reaction, but she only smiled kindly and said that he was he, and nothing would change that. Naruto broke out crying after he heard her say that. Rei only patted and comforted him until he slept peacefully. That day Naruto formed a bond with her. For him, she was everything. She was his guidance, his comforter and his grandma. Naruto told her every secret he had, and the fox didn't complain at all knowing that the old woman was really genuine with her concern for Naruto. He told her that someday he would leave this village and build a new village for everyone that was shunned like him. He would build a safe haven for them and it would be the strongest shinobi village ever. Rei would listen quietly to his story and even give him some suggestions to improve the still non-existent village. Her position as a leader of the merchants helped her to aid Naruto.

Unbeknownst to Naruto, Rei had told the other merchants of his real story. Some of them were apprehensive at first, but then after they remembered Naruto's lonely eyes and the kindness shown inside them when he was with their children, and after some counsel from Rei, they relented. As time went on, they couldn't help but feel that Naruto was only a scapegoat for the villagers' hatred. For them he was a treasure. They didn't tell the children, thinking that they wouldn't understand it since they were still young and could possibly let the secret out.

That was Naruto's life among the merchants.

When the news of Naruto's birthday came out, they secretly planned a party for him. They threw a big party at night 4 kilometers outside the wall of Konoha, in the clearing where they always spent the night when they came to Konoha. Naruto had a great day today. They were dancing, eating, drinking and giving him gifts. The ANBUs were watching the party quietly.

"Here, Naruto," Li the Blacksmith gave Naruto a wrapped gift. Naruto's first thought of it was a katana, but it was too short to be a katana. "It's a kodachi. It is longer than kunai, but shorter than katana. I would've given you katana, but you're still too young… and short," he laughed when Naruto complained. "Kodachi would best suit you for now. And even when you've become an adult, you can still use it," Naruto thanked him profusely, especially when he unwrapped the gift and saw his name on its sheath.

From Shin, one of the bookstore merchants, he got six maps: one of the whole shinobi-world with important cities of the various countries and five others with detailed maps of the five great countries. "So you won't get lost when you decide to explore the world," he ruffled Naruto's spiky hair, much to his displeasure, but he thanked Shin afterwards. He also got four more cooking books and two books about how to be a good leader (Naruto raised an eyebrow at that) from Shin's families.

He got many other gifts besides that, but the one thing he most treasured was Rei's gift. She gave him a pack of traveling clothes she had specifically sewn for him. Naruto told her that he would leave Konoha soon, so she decided to give him this particular gift. She also gave him a blue stone pendant shaped as a nine tailed fox. Naruto spent his night with them.

_With Sandaime_

Sandaime watched Naruto sleeping next to the old lady from his crystal ball with a smile plastered on his face and then frowned.

The blonde boy looked so happy with outsiders. Since 6 months ago, the boy had completely stopped his attempts to befriend the Konoha's children. Instead, he spent his day in solitude and more frequently stayed outside Konoha now. And when the merchants came he would stay with them throughout the day and spend it playing with the merchants' kids.

He was told by the merchants that some villagers told them to stay away from Naruto, saying that he was delinquent. He was furious with the report, but knew that he couldn't do anything. Much to his surprise and everyone else's, the merchants ignored the warnings and instead became closer with the boy. They even gave cold looks to villagers who dared to glare at the boy. Needless to say, the villagers were furious and Naruto got more assassination attempts. Sandaime had to increase the number of ANBUs keeping a watch on Naruto.

Naruto had grown stronger, that much the third Hokage admitted. The boy was training everyday. From the reports he received, Naruto (his clone per the real Naruto's instruction) always ran five laps around the village twice a day. Quite a feat, considering he was still a child. Sandaime was happy for Naruto at that. At least now Naruto could run away from the villagers who threw things at the boy. In some reports, it was mentioned that Naruto dodged and avoided the villagers who chased him. And since the boy got away from them, the ANBUs didn't have much to do other than watch.

But what made Sandaime sad was that Naruto was now completely indifferent to Konoha's people. No longer did he talk to anyone and he no longer smiled. Sandaime only saw the boy smile when he was around the merchants.

And that was not good. Not good at all.

It seemed that Naruto felt that they were not worth his time anymore. If this continued further, there was a chance that Naruto would be lost from Konoha forever.

Sarutobi sighed. He really hoped for the best for Naruto. He stood up and exited his office, leaving the crystal ball there. If only Sarutobi knew that his fear would be realized the next day.

_With Naruto, the next day_

"**Kit!"** Kyuubi barked. After 4 months with Naruto, Kyuubi called him 'kit', no longer 'boy'. Naruto perked up as he waved happily to the leaving merchants.

/Hai, Soramaru-sama?/ he asked.

"**It is time to leave this village**." Naruto's eyes widened. "**But before that you have to retrieve your father's scrolls first**."

/You know my father!/ he asked disbelievingly. /Why didn't you tell me?/

"**Humph, of course I know your father! You don't think that I will forget the man who imprisoned me inside you, do you!"** It growled angrily.

/M-My father is Yondaime./ Naruto would have shrieked outwardly if he didn't remember where he was.

"**Yes. Now move your ass and start walking!"**

/B-but—/

"**If you wanted to ask whether I hate you for it, the answer is no. Of course at first I hated you; both for being my prison and then for being his son, but as I watched those pathetic villagers blame you it irked me. I won't stoop as low as pathetic humans like them. 5 years is quite a long time for me to think about it. Naruto was relieved to hear that. Now, get your father's scrolls."** Naruto didn't' know what to do with this new information It really shocked him to the core. He was the great Yondaime's son? Well he realized that he resembled the blond Hokage, but he thought that it was only a coincidence. Who knew that he was actually his son? But if that was true, why did they hate him? Maybe they didn't know and only thought of him as Kyuubi's reincarnation.

"**Kit, what are you doing frozen like that?"** Naruto was snapped out of his thoughts. He sighed, he would think about his father and his miserable life later when he was away from Konoha.

/I'm sorry, Soramaru-sama. Where can I find them? And how did you know about those scrolls anyway?/

"**I can see what you can see, kit. I don't remember much about my first week inside you because I felt so disoriented and angry, but I definitely remember that I saw Sandaime telling a white haired human that your father left you his scrolls in the secret hole inside the Hokage's office and that no one could open it except you as his own son**." Kyuubi paused. "**I assumed that since it was only you who could open it that it was based on a bloodline seal and was pretty important. A father would leave something to his son if he knew that he would die**."

/Bloodline seal./ Naruto frowned, puzzled. /What is that?/

"**It means that this seal will prevent anyone from opening something unless they're the maker's bloodline. Now, will be a good choice to retrieve the scrolls. The villagers are celebrating MY downfall**." Naruto heard Kyuubi's voice was strained and noticed a sharp edge in his voice. "**And Sandaime and most of the shinobi force is in the party. But you have to shake off your guards**." Kyuubi eyed the six ANBUs around Naruto who had hidden themselves nearby. Naruto nodded and went back to his apartment. There, the ANBUs waited outside his house, so they didn't see him make a clone.

In his 6 months with Kyuubi's training, Naruto could clone himself with his own chakra plus only a bit of Kyuubi's chakra to make sure that the clone was more formidable. But now, Soramaru was planning to make this clone stay for weeks, so Naruto would be long gone from Konoha when the clone poofed out and everyone knew that he was gone, so Naruto didn't use any of his chakra. Instead he let Kyuubi pour its chakra as much as it could without alerting the ANBUs outside. The blonde boy quickly repressed his presence.

When the clone was formed, Naruto gave it instructions to do its usual routine; like training and staying away from the village as much as it could and be to on its guard so none of the assassins could take a dip at it and made the clone poof before its time.

Naruto sent his clone outside and watched as the ANBUs followed it. When he felt that it was safe for now, he exited his apartment. Usually he wouldn't be as nervous like this, apart from the first time he did so, but today was special. He would actually get out of Konoha today. Naruto was glad that he had his things in his camping spot, so he didn't need to bring anything aside from the gifts from the merchants. He had put all of them inside a scroll with a seal that the fox taught him (think of it like what Tenten did with her weapons). It came in handy in bringing things, but he needed to be sure not to put to many things inside a scroll or he would have trouble finding something among the many things. For example, he put all cooking utensils inside a scroll and books inside another scroll. Same thing happened with weapons, food, drinks and anything else. It would surely help him when traveling.

Naruto stealthily ran closer to Hokage tower where his father's scrolls currently were. It was lucky that most people went to the center of the village where the celebrating took place. He shook his head in exasperation. Even if they were partying they shouldn't relax their security. Oh well, it was their loss. He shrugged. Walking into the tower hall as fast as he could without being seen, Naruto hopped into the Hokage's office from the window. He quickly found where the supposed secret hole was from Kyuubi. He found out that there were indeed seals outside the wooden plank that covered the hole. The plank was covered behind a stack of books. Anyone else who saw it would only think that it was a normal bookshelf with books. But thanks to Kyuubi, Naruto knew that this wasn't the case.

"**Smear your blood on the seal!**" The great fox instructed. Naruto's heart beat faster as he bit his thumb and smeared his blood on the black seal. It glowed for a moment before the plank dropped into Naruto's hand, revealing a small hole behind it. Not thinking about anything else, Naruto just took out everything there and dumped them in his backpack. He put the plank back into its place; complete with its seal intact, before letting loose his breath in relief. Naruto quickly exited the office the same way he came in and dashed to his camp where he had spent most of his time in these 6 months. He didn't come across anyone. Kyuubi helped him navigate by sensing chakra around him. Actually it wasn't needed because there was no one patrolling outside the wall. Naruto shook his head once again, horrified by the lack of security. When he made his village, he would make sure it had a tight security.

The blonde boy's heart soared when he arrived at his camp. He quickly packed his things, put everything he wouldn't need for sometime inside scrolls and put the scrolls in his backpack. He put on Rei's gift and strapped Li's gift on his hip. A pouch full of kunais, shurikens, wires and exploding notes was on both thighs (the fox made him practice with both hands, even if his right hand was still stronger than the left). With a smile on his face, Naruto looked back to Konoha once more. Then he dashed toward the opposite direction of the shinobi village and toward freedom.

Inside Konoha, everyone was partying; the ANBUs were keeping watch on Naruto's replica. Little did they know that today they would lose a person of importance to the future of their village.

TBC…

Review after you had read the chapter!


	5. Chapter Five

Author's Note: **KarinMS **edited this chapter.

Chapter Five

Traveling and Training

Naruto stopped running as soon as he passed Konohagakure's border, but Kyuubi didn't want to take any risk, so Naruto stayed off the road. The darkness of the night didn't hinder him. It was another advantage having the fox demon inside him; his eyes enabled him to see in the dark. At first, he didn't really have this ability but 3 months after finding out about Kyuubi, the fox taught him a way to alter his seal so he could grant Naruto this ability. When the blonde asked Soramaru why he didn't teach him how to break the seal, the fox only told him that he couldn't break Shinigami's seal. He could only alter the seal to let Naruto access his power directly.

When Soramaru felt that Naruto was far enough from Konoha, he told him to take a rest. Naruto nodded and set up his tent. He opened Shin's gift, the six maps. The blonde boy searched for a forest that was isolated from people, where he could practice without disturbance, but full with animals for food and a water resource. He quickly scratched Wind country from the list knowing that it was a desert country. He found one of the forests in the Water country suited for his training. There was no city or even village nearby. It was surrounded by cliffs and the only way to pass through the cliffs was a small cave.

That night, Naruto slept with a smile on his face.

The next day, Naruto hunted a rabbit for breakfast and left for Water country. On his journey, Kyuubi taught him how to climb the trees and walk on water by using chakra. It was hard at first, but Naruto quickly got used to it, especially since the fox helped control his chaotic chakra. His chakra was chaotic because of Kyuubi, so his chakra path had to adapt to the demon chakra. Soramaru took care of his own chakra, so the blonde boy only needed to control his own blue chakra. The fox promised him that he would teach him to alter his seal after he was strong enough, so he could easily control his chakra. He didn't teach him anything else, for Naruto had to reach his destination as quickly as possible, so they could focus on his training. The fox only taught him theory as Naruto traveled to his destination.

Naruto arrived in Water country 5 days later. He spent the day in the forest reaching the cliff and searching for the cave.

"Damn it! Where is that fucking cave?" he grumbled. Naruto had circled the cliff twice, but had yet to find the entrance.

"**The cave must be hidden by plants or rocks, so you can't find it**." The demon inside him advised. "**Try to circle around the cliff once more, this time feel the air around you. If there is a cave, there should be wind currents going through; that is, if the cave has another opening elsewhere."**

Naruto followed Kyuubi's advice; 10 minutes later, he found the cave entrance. It was hidden by tree roots and he would have passed it by again had not the demon fox been with him. Naruto slashed the roots hiding the cave and entered. His eyes glowed in the darkness as he walked through the cave. It was a short walk; 5 minutes later, he exited the cave and came upon the forest he had tried to find. Naruto spent the rest of his day exploring the forest. He found another cave that was used by animals to enter and exit the forest. When he searched for water, he came upon a small river that was made out of a stream that exited from the cliff. It wasn't the waterfall he wanted, but his water problem was solved. There wouldn't be a food problem either because there were many animals in the forest. Naruto also found a big clearing where he could practice, so he wouldn't need to take down a part of the forest to make his training ground.

"**You should build a house for a more permanent dwelling**," Kyuubi suggested, "**but for now, the tent should be okay. I'll teach you to cut down trees using your own powers. This way you could train your strength and you won't have to rely on weapons**."

_2 weeks later (or 3 weeks after he escaped from Konoha)_

Naruto dashed on the vertical cliff, focusing his chakra on his feet. His hands took out two kunais each from the pouches on his thighs and threw them towards small flying birds nearby. The kunais hit their target and the birds fell to the ground. Naruto smiled as they fell. He jumped to the ground, 9 meters below him, and landed with a soft sound. He collected the birds and plucked off the feathers before he roasted them. He ate them hungrily and drank from the river, before he resumed training.

"**Focus your chakra on your hand and destroy the rocks!"** Naruto closed his eyes for a moment, focusing his chakra. He opened his eyes. With a cry, Naruto struck the rock with his fist and created a crater in it. "**Good, now use your left hand**." Naruto repeated this and there was another crater in another rock, only slightly smaller than the other.

Soramaru nodded in satisfaction inside of his cage. "**Practice this until you don't need to think when you focus your chakra. Now, I want you to learn how to direct the power**."

"Huh?" Naruto asked confused.

"**When you clench your fist, the power is directed to all directions. The spot where your fist land gets the most impact and then the power travels from that spot to all directions and makes a round crater. If you… say… open your palm and then focus your chakra there, the spot where the hit lands will get more impact than when you hit with your clenched fist**." Kyuubi explained patiently.

/Ah, you mean that the smaller the area I strike is, it will get more impact since the chakra is more focused on the spot./ Kyuubi nodded.

Naruto opened left his palm and focused the chakra on the surface of his palm. He hoped that his fingers wouldn't get broken when he hit the rock. He then struck the rock with a shout. His hand went right through the rock. Naruto took out his hand and compared the rocks. He noticed that the crater his open palm made was smaller but the spot where he hit was deeper. Hell, he could see what was behind the rock since the hole went through it. Just as he whistled, there was a cracking sound and the rock he just hit was broken into parts before it fell on the ground with loud sound.

"Whoa!" he said amazed.

"**You just hit the weakest point of the rock so it broke apart. If you didn't hit the weakest point, it wouldn't have broken apart and there would be only a hole**." The fox paused. "**If your open palm hit that rock horizontally or vertically, there is a chance that if you use enough power, you'll cut the rock instead of making a hole. Why don't you practice this on trees? Don't think that it will be easier than with the rocks! A tree is a living thing. It is made of numerous fibers despite the size, which are harder to destroy than a simple rock**."

Naruto trained to focus his chakra everyday. And as days went on, he could easily focus his chakra without thinking. He built his house when he felt that he had enough logs. His house was finished after a day of constructing (with no training at that day). He bound each of the logs using strong vines he found in the forest outside the cliff.

"**Kit, why don't you read your father's scrolls!"** Naruto looked up in surprise. He had completely forgotten about those!

"Hai, Soramaru-sama."

_In Konoha, 5 weeks after Naruto's _escape

Sandaime was worried; Naruto had been gone for a week. And he noticed because it was 4 days more than his usual 3 vanishing days. The ANBUs he dispatched weren't able to find him.

"Sandaime-sama," The Third looked up to see a silver haired shinobi in front of him. The man was wearing a jounin vest and he had a mask on his face. He must have been deep into his thoughts that he didn't notice him coming.

"Have you found him, Kakashi?" he asked hopefully. The jounin shook his head, and with it Sandaime's hope died out.

"But we found something interesting that you have to know," the old man frowned. "There is a neglected camp 30 kilometers outside Konoha's wall. The hunter-nin that was with me said that a person, judging from the same footprints near the river, used it for a long time and it was neglected for at least a few weeks. We wouldn't know of it if we had not searched the forest thoroughly. It was deep in the forest."

"Do you mean that there was someone living there and spying on our village?" he asked worriedly.

"Well, there is that risk, but according to him, the footprints there belong to a child."

"What?" he asked in surprise. "You mean that they are Naruto's?" Kakashi shrugged. "But he has never gone more than 20 kilometers from the village. And the patrols that came upon him outside the village always reported that he has never camped over that limit. I also never found him there with my crystal ball," he told him confusedly. "And Naruto was missing only a week ago, not weeks."

The two shinobi stared at each other in confusion. It was like a puzzle with missing pieces. A knock on the door shook them from their stupors.

"Enter!" one of the Third's assistants entered the office.

"Sandaime-sama, the council wants an audience with you," he said.

Sandaime sighed as he stood up from his seat. No doubt they wanted to know about Naruto. "Come back here later, Kakashi. I want to know the details," the silver haired jounin nodded before he vanished. With a heavy heart, Sandaime walked out of his office and went to the meeting room, where he would meet with the many heads of shinobi clans and elders that formed the council.

The Third was right in his assessment. The council was meeting for the fate of Naruto. They wanted to know whether he had been found or not. Many of them demanded that Naruto be posted as an S-class missing-nin.

"He hasn't entered the academy yet, much less be a genin. According to the law, no civilian can be posted as a missing-nin," Sarutobi argued.

"He is not a civilian! He is the Kyuubi, or do you forget about what he has done to us?" one of the council members hollered, outraged.

The Third frowned in anger. "Naruto isn't the Kyuubi. He is only a vessel, a sacrifice that we used so Kyuubi could do us no harm!" Some of the councils nodded in agreement. Among them were the Yamanaka clan, the Akamichi clan, the Yuuhi clan, the Nara clan and four other clan's heads. The neutral ones like the Hyuuga clan, the Aburame clan, the Yorushi clan and three other clans stayed silent.

The argument was heated until the head of Hyuuga clan, Hyuuga Hiashi, cleared his throat for their attention. When he got their attentions, he spoke. "I don't care whether Uzumaki Naruto is the Kyuubi or only the fox's vessel," he paused. "But we can't post him as a missing-nin. Not even a D-class missing-nin, much less an S-class missing-nin," Some members that hated Naruto shouted, outraged, but they were silenced by his glare. "You know that all missing-nin from S-class missing-nin to D-class missing-nin will be known by other villages, don't you?" They nodded in confusion wondering what the point was. "Like what Sandaime said, all villages have a law concerning missing-nin that states that no civilian, this means persons that aren't in shinobi ranks like ANBU, jounin, chuunin or genin can be posted as missing-nins. That means that an academy student can't be a missing-nin and Uzumaki Naruto wasn't even an academy student."

"But he is Kyuubi!"

"Could you be quiet for a moment? I haven't finished yet!" he yelled and the man who shouted shrank in fear in his seat. "What I mean is that the other villages would find it strange if we post the boy as missing-nin. They will find it strange if a civilian, only 6 years old, without family, and not even an academy student is a… say… D-class missing-nin. What would they think if we post him as S-class missing-nin? They would try to find out about him. What if they'll know that he's Kyuubi's vessel?"

The council was silent as they realized the answer.

"They would try to search and use him as their weapon. And since the villagers treated him like crap, I don't doubt that the kid despises them. They could easily convert him against us," the head of Nara clan replied lazily. Hiashi nodded in satisfaction.

In the end, they agreed to keep the news about Naruto quiet. The search would be continued, and if the boy were found, he would be sent back to Konoha. They would hold another meeting to determine his fate if he were found.

When Sarutobi went back to his office, he sighed. He rubbed his forehead as he felt a headache coming. He wasn't in the mood to work with his paperwork, so he went to his shelves for a book to take his mind off of things.

"Hm?" he frowned when he noticed that some of his books were out of place. With dread, he removed them and looked at the hidden hole inside a shelf.

The black seal on the removable plank that covered the hidden hole was blurred indicating that someone had opened it. And since the only one who could open it was the children of the seal caster…

"SHIT!" Sandaime cursed loudly.

TBC…

Yeah well, hand me your reviews now!


	6. Chapter Six

Author's Note: **KarinMS **had edited this chapter. Thank the lucky stars for her help

Chapter Six

Shopping and Evolving

_9 months after Naruto escaped_

Naruto stood outside of the clothes store. He checked whether he had his summon scroll with him or not. The scroll was full with furs from animals he had captured during 2 weeks. When he found it, he entered the store.

"Ah, Naruto-kun, welcome," a 27 year old woman greeted him. She had long black hair and was quite pretty. "Another fur shipment? Or do you want to buy clothes?" she smiled kindly.

"Kimiko-san," he greeted. "Both actually. I need a training suit and two pair of pants," he was ushered by her to a room.

"Of course. Now can I see the furs?" Naruto nodded and opened the scroll, summoning the animal skins that were stored inside it. "Hm… there are more furs than usual," she raised her eyebrow as she checked the furs' quality.

"I got more animals," he shrugged.

She nodded. "The quality is excellent. I'm surprised to see that your fur quality is better than other hunters that sell their animal skins to us; and you're only what? 6 years old?" The blonde boy only smirked in return. She wrote the price for the furs on a paper and gave it to Naruto. "Ask Rie-chan for the money. She's at the counter," Naruto nodded. "Now for your order, do you want them custom made?"

"Yes. What can you tell me of the types of cloth you have?"

"Well, we have just gotten a new batch of cloths from Lightning Country. It is more durable and comfortable than the cloth I have used for your previous clothes. There are some colors: black, blue, red, and one that is popular among women, but I doubt you'll like the last one. You're not a girl after all. Come!" she took him to another room where the cloth was stored. "Pick the cloth you like! Your order will be finished this afternoon."

Naruto, learning something about cloth and clothes from Rei; the old merchant woman, quickly picked 3 types of cloth he liked. He handed them to Kimiko and told her what he wanted for his order.

"A pouch on each thigh? Sure. What do you want it made of?" she asked.

"Can you find an inflammable and water resistant material?"

"Well, we don't have a material with those two requirements…" she trailed off.

"It's okay if you make it double-layered. But I want the water resistant material outside," she nodded.

"Now, let me measure you. God, each time I see you, you grow more." She wrote his measurements in her book and ushered him out so she could work. Naruto went to the counter and collected his payment before he exited the store.

Naruto went to the Ukajima Blacksmith in the city. He was a loyal customer in that weapon store. The weapons that were made by the Ukajima family were well known in the Water country. Many Mist shinobis went there to buy supplies. The city where this store was located was 50 kilometers from the forest where he stayed. He usually went there every 2 weeks to buy his necessities and sell the fur of the animals he hunted. It was actually the owner of the weapon store who pointed out the clothes store where he could sell the furs when he first came upon the city.

"Naruto-kun, what do you want to buy?" Ukajima Gou, a 56 years old man and the owner of the store, asked.

"The usual," Naruto replied. "Maybe a sword. Do you have a book for swordsmanship, Gou-san?"

"Unfortunately I don't have it. But I have a friend who has some good books about it. Why don't you come back here in 3 days time? I'm pretty sure that I will have those books by then. Or maybe you could buy them in Sei-san's store. He sells basic ninja technique scrolls, so he should have some books about it."

Naruto nodded. "I'll do that, but can you ask your friend too?"

"I will ask him, don't worry! Why don't you choose your sword, while I pack up your weapons? The swords are in that section."

/What do you think, Soramaru-sama?/ He took a sword and waved it around.

"**Don't ask me! I'm not a humanoid demon type, and I have never handled any weapon**." The fox snapped. He was sleeping when his vessel had asked him and was quite grumpy.

/But how could you teach me about how to use kunais and shurikens then?/ Naruto asked confused.

"**That is only accuracy training, so of course I know it. Beside you trained using the kodachi on your own!"**

/Alright, alright, no need to get a rise for something like that./ The fox huffed and went back to sleep. /Sheesh…/ Naruto shook his head.

"Gou-san, what type of sword do you think I should use?" Naruto asked the owner.

"Type of sword, you ask? Well, let me see… if you prefer speed, you should take a light sword. I normally don't make heavy swords, except if someone orders it. The ones that I make are standard swords mostly," he walked to Naruto. "Do you really need a sword now? I think that the kodachi of yours will suit you for now. You're still too short to handle a long sword."

"I'm not short," Naruto retorted.

"You are. The swords that I make are suited for shinobi over 150 cm."

"Then can I order a sword that is longer than my kodachi and shorter than a common sword?"

The old man looked at the determined child before he nodded. "Alright, I'll finish your sword after 3 days. Come here!" The old man told the blond boy to grip a piece of clay, so he could adjust the handle size just for him. Naruto complied and when he was done, he exited the store with the weapons he bought in his scroll. He bought some other things from the stores in the city before he picked up his clothes and went back to the forest.

"**I think it is time for us to alter the seal again. This will be quite painful because I will change your body into a more demonic nature**." Naruto stored his weapon on the rack in his hut.

/Well, as long as I won't look like a demon, that won't be a problem./

"**Your appearance won't change. It is your inside that will change so you can handle my chakra better**." The fox told him.

/My… inside?/ the 6 years old boy looked puzzled.

The fox growled irritated. "**Just do what I tell you to do and let me do my job!**" Kyuubi sent an image of hand seal sequence. The seals were demonic in nature and couldn't be used by a human without a demon's help. The seals were used by a clan of humanoid demons in the demon realm. Kyuubi himself couldn't do it, because his paws weren't built for making seals, plus he was only a spirit without a body. He actually knew about the demon seals in order to prepare himself in case those humanoid demons dared to attack him. He didn't know at that time that this knowledge would be this valuable now.

After memorizing the hand seals, Naruto took a deep breath. The night had already come and the full moon was up in the sky. Kyuubi went through the steps to alter the seal on his belly.

Naruto made a clone that had the complete memory of the hand seals sequence. It was the clone that would perform the seals. He made sure that the clone had enough power to perform it. He took off his shirt so his belly was shown to the rest of the world.

The clone started to make the seals. It took 5 minutes for the clone to finish it, but it was like forever for Naruto. His clone's hands started to glow red, indicating that Kyuubi's chakra was being used. Its hands hit the seal on his belly. Just when the impact came and his clone poofed out, Naruto doubled over in pain and screamed. The pain was unlike anything he had ever experienced. The pain he got from his harsh training now felt like a walk in a park compared to this. It felt like his body was being torn to pieces. Naruto fell on his knees and he clutched the grass beneath him firmly. He closed his eyes and bit his lip, so no voice would get out of his mouth.

When he couldn't take it anymore, darkness claimed him.

Naruto woke up when the sun was already high in the sky. It seemed that he passed out from the excruciating pain he experienced. His body was sore and he felt like all his strength had left him.

/Soramaru-sama./ Naruto looked around him in confusion. Why did he see more colors than usual? His eyes were throbbing and he thought he was imagining all the colors around him.

"**You should rest for a while, kit. It looks like that last night activity took a toll on your fragile human body**."

Naruto walked limply with his weak feet. He reached his hut and quickly went to his soft bed that was made from animal furs.

"**Sleep well, kit. Tomorrow you will feel refreshed and more powerful than before**."

/Hai…/ with that his eyelids dropped and he slept.

Inside him, the great nine tails worked to regenerate Naruto's health. The boy's blood now had silvery liquid in it. If it was used correctly, Naruto could either poison or heal someone with his blood. The silver substance would give him faster regeneration and would let Kyuubi transfer his power to heal Naruto easily without giving any strain on his body. His cells were changed to the point where they could produce more chakra than before and were built to specifically handle Kyuubi's chakra. The enhanced cells by default also strengthened his sight, hearing and sense of smell.

Kyuubi had bestowed him a gift that would be useful in his journey for building his village. He had altered Naruto's eyes to be more sensitive in seeing life energy around him. Life energy was different from chakra. The energy indicated a person's health, stamina and how big chakra reserves they had. Life energy was also known as aura. The colors were like the rainbow. On people with bloodlines, there was golden color mixed in. Naruto's eyes could now see whether a person had a bloodline or not. He wouldn't know what the bloodline ability was though. With those eyes, he would have an easier way to search out people for his village. The thicker the aura, the bigger chakra reserves the person had. He would know if a person was ill from the black color an ill person had. If a person were fit and healthy, his aura would be bright. When a person died, the aura also died out, so Naruto would know whether a person was really dead, or only playing dead.

Well, that would be the advantage, but he needed to get a hang of it first so the colors he saw wouldn't confuse him. When Naruto mastered how to use his eyes' new ability he would be able to activate and deactivate the ability much like the Byakugan or Sharingan. His eyes were now changed into silvery blue. The silver substances in his blood were also connected to his eyes by his blood veins and thus enabled him a better sight than before.

When Naruto woke up, he was indeed feeling more energized. He wasn't happy that he had to get used to his new ability though. It was really difficult to see when his eyes were bombarded by colors that every living being emitted. Kyuubi told him to forgo his usual training to master his eyes. Naruto had a difficult time when he went to the city to fetch his sword, but he managed to get back to the forest still in one piece.

After 2 weeks, he resumed his usual hard training. He had gotten used with the colors around him and felt the need to take out his excess energy in full force after only doing weapon training in 2 weeks. On his 3rd week, Naruto was proud to say that he had mastered his eyes.

"**Good, now that you have mastered your eyes, I want you to train your endurance and speed**."

/But I already have better endurance and speed than normal people./ he complained, wanting to further develop his chakra.

"**Yes, normal people. People as in human! I want you to get stronger, so you won't get killed by demons!**" The fox glowered at the dumbfounded boy. "**You'll go to the demon realm to pick up some things that are necessary to build a strong village. I want you to be ready in case some demons attack you**."

Naruto blanched at the prospect of having to go to the demon realm.

"**After a week of endurance and speed training, you will train using my chakra in battle for 2 weeks and then we'll set out of this forest to do some killings**."

/You want me to kill humans!/ Naruto shrieked inside his mind.

"**Yeah, do you have any problem with that?"**

"Of course I do!" he blurted out.

"**You should get used to killing people! I don't care if you wallow in self-pity after you have your first kills, but you have to be strong in order to build the village you dreamed of! What if your village gets assassination assignments? Will you refuse them?**" The fox barked furiously.

"…No," Naruto fidgeted. Soramaru smirked.

"**Besides, I'm not telling you to go on a killing spree! I'm not asking you to kill children or… innocent people,"** Kyuubi's eyes twitched when he said the 'innocent' part. "**You could kill bandits. They are stronger than normal citizen, especially if they are shinobi or samurai, so you could practice better. And you can collect money from killing them**." The fox added the last part as an afterthought.

/Can't I just beat them into submission instead of killing them?/

The fox sighed in exasperation. "**Fine, but I want you to at least get some kills once in awhile! It has been a long time since I was imprisoned, and I need some release from time to time. I want some blood to be spilled! I am a demon for nine tails' sake!"**

/Deal./

"**Yeah, yeah, it's a deal!"** The fox growled in annoyance. "**You might want to disguise yourself though. Who knows if Konoha is still looking for you? You can just cover your whisker mark like usual with genjutsu and maybe dye your hair. Thankfully you can still use a basic genjutsu. I swear that you really suck in that department! You have the chakra control, but you're too hotheaded to use genjutsu. No matter though, it isn't like I know any human genjutsu, besides, I can help countering any genjutsu placed on you anyway**."

/Heh, now that you tell me, I managed to teach myself that basic genjutsu from a ninja scroll./

"**Yes, and I dare to bet that if it wasn't so important to cover your whisker mark, you would never have mastered that technique. Thankfully, I can enhance the genjutsu, so no human would be able to tell that you use genjutsu on your face, but a 'Kai' technique, as weak as it is, if it is directed at you will easily dissolve the genjutsu. It is really a wonder that you got the hand of henge no jutsu**." The fox shook his head in wonder. "**Even if it is categorized as ninjutsu, it looks so much like genjutsu**."

/Well, yeah, what can I say, I suck at using genjutsu./

"**And countering it!**" The fox added. "**You have to be thankful that I am inside you and I can counter any genjutsu. It is really ironic. I'm a genjutsu master, or at least a master on the demon genjutsu anyway, but my host's genjutsu sucks!"** Naruto rolled his eyes. He quickly took his mind off from the fox's ranting, knowing that he wouldn't stop when he started critiquing the blond boy. For one of the great tailed beasts, Soramaru was surely a loudmouth… or maybe he was just making up for lost time when he couldn't speak with anyone for 6 years because of his imprisonment. Oh well, at least he's got someone to talk to.

3 weeks after that, Naruto left his hut for his next journey. He had already told Kimiko, Gou and some other people from the city that he would be gone for a long time. They bid him good luck and gave him some parting gifts. He dyed his hair light brown in the city. It was only a temporary dye, so he had to dye his hair once a month.

Naruto walked on the road with dread. He really didn't want to kill anyone, but it seemed that the fox didn't give him any choice. Hopefully he wouldn't spend his time in a guilt trip after killing some people, even if they were criminals.

TBC…

Allright guys, hit the review button!


	7. Chapter Seven

Author's Note: I'm happy to say that this chapter has been edited (by **KarinMS**)

Chapter Seven

First Fight

When Naruto entered the town he asked for directions to the local police station. The man he asked was staring at him for a while, wondering why a 6 year old kid needed directions to a police station, before he answered. The boy remedied his mistake by using henge afterwards. A brown haired young man wearing traveling clothes soon replaced the blonde boy.

Naruto entered the office and asked for information about criminals and missing-nin in the area. The police answered his questions without much hassle, since it was common occurrence in every town. Sometimes bounty hunters would come to the local police department to ask for a job to eliminate or capture criminals. The bounty hunters were usually shinobi without allegiance toward any hidden village, but there were some samurais that became bounty hunters for a living too. They would be given information about the criminals to help them with their job.

"You're new at this, aren't you?" the middle aged officer asked.

Naruto looked up in surprise. "Am I that obvious?"

The officer snorted. "Of course, you are. No experienced bounty hunter would ask for a bingo book. Anyway if you capture local criminals, you have to ask for your payment from the police department where you got the information. The other cities or towns won't pay you for criminals that don't bother them. If you want I can also give you the pamphlets that contain the name and photo of missing-nins with their price aside from the bingo book you requested and the pamphlets of local bandits."

"Yes, I'd like that. I also want to ask how I'm supposed to call the police when I catch some criminals, because I'm not sure I could leave them alone when I go to this department and—"

"Police stations in every town have a particular radio frequency," the man interrupted. "You can buy walkie-talkies and other equipment you might need at that counter," he pointed to a small counter in the corner of the room. Naruto took the pamphlets and thanked the officer before he bought a walkie-talkie. The man who sold the device told him how to use it, much to Naruto's relief.

Naruto stopped at a ramen restaurant and ordered pork ramen. He read the local pamphlets as he ate. He gathered from the pamphlets that there was only one group of bandits near the town that was considered as big enough threat, the rest was the usual pickpockets or thieves. Their group was consisting of 60 or so bandits. The bandits had already destroyed a small village 20 kilometers from the town. It was rumored that they had a base in the forest 16 kilometers from the small village. The town had asked for help by Hidden Mist a month ago, but no team came to the town. There was a rumor that their messengers were killed by the bandits. They would have tried to ask other hidden villages' help; alas the Mist village would be angered by such a fact. The Mist was a proud village, and a town in the Water country territory doing something like that could result in unnecessary disaster for the town when the Mist heard the news.

/So, what do you think?/ Naruto asked inwardly. He had finished with his lunch and was ready for action.

"**Take it. It would be quite an experience for you. I want you to take them one by one, think of it as a stealth test from me**." The fox answered. "**Gather as much information as you can from the villagers first. You can deal with the bandits tomorrow**." His host nodded and then stood up; leaving his money on the table for the ramen he ate.

Naruto spent his time that day gathering information about the bandits using different faces. In his 7th henge, he noticed that someone was watching him. Naruto turned around and he noticed that the person watching him quickly hid.

/He's quite suspicious. Do you think he is one of the bandits who are sent here to spy?/

"**Probably. Why don't you 'talk' with him?"**

/I will./ With that statement Naruto leapt to the dark alley and landed in front of the person who was watching him. The man was surprised, but he quickly regained his wits. He took out a dagger and charged Naruto who was currently posing as a red haired woman. Naruto stayed firmly in place, watching the man dashing at him impassively. Just as the dagger struck him, Naruto's right hand grabbed his wrist and twisted it, making him scream in pain and loose his dagger in the process. Naruto swung him into the dumpster behind them. The spy's head hit the dumpster with a crash.

"Uh… oops" Naruto scratched his head in embarrassment seeing the man was knocked out.

"**Damn, now we need to wait him wake up! Great job there, kit!**" The boy could hear the underlying sarcasm in the fox's voice.

/Sorry…/

The great beast sighed. "**Bring him to a secluded place where we can interrogate him freely."**

Naruto looked around in the empty alley in confusion. /This is a secluded place./

"**Get us away from the dumpster, you idiot! And take him to the outskirts of the town!"**

Not wanting to infuriate the fox demon even further, Naruto quickly tied the unconscious man and slung him on his shoulder. /Aye, sir!/ He jumped toward the rooftop and dashed outside of the town.

An hour later, the man woke up to find himself tied to a wooden pole in one of the abandoned houses in the village that were attacked by the bandit group sometime ago. He looked around in confusion, obviously the blow he received on his head messed with his memory. Naruto, still hidden in the shadows, could only hope that the man didn't get amnesia. The fox had already been bitching at him for an hour, instead of using this time to teach him like he used to do.

Naruto stepped out of the shadows. This time he used the appearance of a bulky man whose look would probably make the man piss his pants in fear. Long battle scars adorned his cheek. The boy purposely made sure his footsteps was heard by the man. "Are you ready to tell me about the bandit group now?" he asked with a gruff voice, hoping to intimidate the man into talking. The man's eyes widened in surprise and fear. It seemed that he remembered that he was taken out by a red haired woman (Naruto in henge).

"W-Who are you?" he squeaked.

Naruto shook his head and his finger. "Now, now, it's me who's asking the questions, not you. So tell me," Naruto kneeled until he was at eye level with the bound spy on the floor. "Tell me about the bandit group and I might spare your life," he grinned as nastily as he could.

The man was trembling now. "I-I don't know what y-you're talking about," he denied him an answer.

Naruto tapped his chin impatiently. "Do you know what I do to my prisoners?" his eyes peered at the man's gray eyes.

"I-I," he couldn't muster his bravery.

"Would you like to feel it first hand?" Naruto eyed his kunai on his hand with a glint.

"N-no!" he shouted frantically.

"Then tell me about the group!" the blonde boy, turned brown haired man, yelled in reply.

The man quickly blurted out all information he knew about the bandits, such as where their headquarter was, their numbers, plan to escape if something went wrong etc. When the man was finished, he continued to blabber about how many girlfriends he had and he swore that he wouldn't play with their hearts anymore in fear of punishment. Naruto rolled his eyes. He really didn't need to hear that. Inside him the fox was laughing inside his cage in amusement of the cowardice act. Naruto stood up and clenched his fist in annoyance. The man's eyes widened in fear again.

"P-please, don't hit my beautiful face!" he pleaded.

Naruto stared at the man, as he raised his eyebrow. He noticed that he was indeed handsome and seemed to be quite a player in the town. Just to spite him, his fist hit him on his face rendering him into consciousness one more time, this time with broken teeth and nose. Naruto huffed in satisfaction.

"**Aren't you immature?**" The fox grinned in mirth.

/Oh, shut up, will you!/ the boy growled. He reverted back to his real form. /So, what should we do now?/

"**Change of plans. Let's hit that filthy scum tonight!"** Naruto smirked. "**And don't forget to kill some of them!"** His smirk faltered.

/ Hai, Soramaru-sama./ he said in a resigned voice.

"**You'd better! It's our deal!**" The demon growled.

When the night came, Naruto dashed towards the direction the spy told him to go. He hoped that it was the right information or the man would be mincemeat when he came back.

His eyes glowed in the dark as they took in his surroundings in perfect sight. He activated his ability to see aura and restricted its limit to see only human aura. Naruto's ears perked up when he heard some movements. He jumped silently from branch to branch and stayed still on the branch when he was near them. He peered and saw two men sitting around a fire. They were talking animatedly with alcoholic drinks in their hands. There were two swords beside them where they could reach them. Since no people dared to stay near a bandit camp except if they were bandits themselves, it could only mean that the two men were bandits.

Naruto jumped on them and before they could react, he rendered them unconscious with a clean hit behind their necks. He dragged their bodies away from the fire into the shadows. He bound them and gagged their mouths. After checking that they didn't have any secret weapons that could help them escape, Naruto left them there.

He came upon the next camp 2 minutes later. This time there were seven people down there. He took out one of them silently when the bandit went to take a piss. He transformed into a brown owl without a sound. This was one of the many things he had trained during the last 9 months and he was proud to say that he had accomplished the task. He flew to the nearest tree from the camp. He noticed that two of the bandits were too drunk to attack him when he assaulted them and they were sleeping. Naruto flew to them attracting their attention, but when they saw that it was only an owl, they relaxed. Unfortunately for them though, it wasn't a real owl. The brown owl quickly transformed into his human form, surprising the bandits. He swung the nearest bandit at a tree, knocking him out, and then dashed to the 2nd bandit; kicked his head and punched his stomach. Naruto's eyes widened when he saw the 3rd bandit was about to blow a whistle to inform the rest of the bandits that there was an intruder.

Reacting on instinct, his hand went to his pouch to retrieve his kunai and threw it right into the bandit's throat. The bandit's eyes widened for a moment as if he didn't believe it. He dropped to the ground with a sickening crash. Naruto felt a pang in his heart before he quickly turned around when he felt a person behind him.

The last bandit coughed blood, the sword that he held in his hand as he prepared to slice Naruto from behind dropped on the floor. A bloody glowing opened palm went through his stomach. The man moaned in pain before he took his last breath and dropped down beside the shocked Naruto. The blonde boy retracted his hand from the bandit's stomach and stared at it in disbelief.

"**Snap out of it, kit. We have a job to finish!"** The fox barked gleefully. "**And more people to kill!"**

Naruto shook his head to clear his mind. He took a deep breath at the rising guilt that swelled in his heart, before he tied up the bandits that were still alive. With a shaky breath, he dropped to his knees.

He had killed two men. He had killed! This thought was repeating inside his mind.

Kyuubi rolled his eyes in annoyance. That was only two men, for demon's sake. And bandits at that! He shouldn't feel guilty! If it was up to him, the boy should have felt bloodthirsty instead of guilt!

"**Kit, start moving!**" The fox growled. The boy stiffened before he nodded. He stood up and made some clones with his own chakra. Unlike his clone in Konoha though, these clones that he made weren't capable of emotion. He didn't use some seals and this was the result. He found this in accident when he forgot to use three seals in Konoha. He told them to scout the forest and to eliminate any bandit they met with silently. The clones nodded before they spread out.

Naruto didn't doubt that they would be able to kill in cold blood since they didn't have an ounce of human emotion.

The Kyuubi's vessel moved from his spot toward the bandits' headquarters, fully intending to finish his job.

2 hours later, he sat on one of the chairs inside the bandits' headquarter with unconscious bandits, bound and gagged. The bandits couldn't withstand his power. It seemed that they relied on their quantity instead of quality. Naruto took a long time because it was a stealth exam from the fox, and he needed to think about his moves carefully so not to attract attention to himself. He didn't kill a single one of them at that, only when he was found out and was attacked by many bandits simultaneously (after they saw how easy he dispatched their friends). He killed five more people in the heat of battle.

"**Well, you were found out, but it wasn't pretty bad. At least you successfully stayed hidden for a long time before they found you out**." The fox tried to snap the boy out of his guilt trip. "**Hey, kit, do you hear me?"** He snapped.

/…Hai./ Naruto's blue eyes were clouded.

"**I want you to improve your stealth until not even high-rank shinobi can feel your presence until it is too late!"**

/…Hai, Soramaru-sama./ The fox snorted angrily. Naruto called the police station using his walkie-talkie after he adjusted the radio frequency, his news shocked them and sent the station in disarray as they sent policemen to retrieve the bandits, dead or alive. Naruto transformed into his false persona that he had used in the police station when he met up with them.

He exited the town with the money put in his summoning scroll in the morning. With a heavy heart and an unsolved guilty feeling, he continued his journey.

TBC…

Reviews are appreciated


	8. Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

Gathering the Troops

A 6' 2" blonde young man walked toward a moderate sized house in the middle of a forest. His bright blue eyes locked at the wooden door of the house. Behind him were two young boys. The taller one had black hair and green eyes while the short one had black hair and brown eyes. Both were following the blonde man nervously.

He knocked on the door three times before a 12 year old beautiful black haired girl opened it. The girl's frown quickly changed into a big smile when she recognized the man.

"Naruto-niisan!" she launched herself toward the man who captured her body and twirled her around. "You came back!"

"Hey, kiddo!" he put her on the ground and ruffled her hair affectionately. A big grin was plastered on his unblemished face. "Yeah, I came back. Look, I bring you two more friends," with that exclamation she looked behind him and noticed the two boys. "Ren, Shou, this is Miki, your new friend," he grabbed their shoulders and pushed them toward the smiling girl.

"Hi, my name is Miki. Nice to meet you!" she smiled kindly alleviating the boys' worries and then turned around to the house and shouted loudly, "Guys, Naruto-niisan is back and he has brought us two new friends!" Not even a second later loud thumps and footsteps were heard from the house.

7 boys and 10 girls rushed toward the door and quickly launched themselves towards the wide-eyed blond, throwing him to the ground. The two young boys looked at the pile of human bodies in shock. Miki giggled at their surprise. A 16 year old female red head rolled her eyes at the scene.

Naruto groaned exasperatedly. "Kindly detach yourselves from me, please," the children stood up sheepishly.

"Naruto-niisan, welcome back!" a shy 6 year old girl twiddled her thumbs happily. She frowned when a boy her age played with her long brown hair and glared at the culprit. "Keep your hands off of my hair, Sei!" she yelled angrily. Ren and Shou gaped at the girl who acted so different toward Naruto and a black haired boy named Sei. Naruto chuckled and introduced Ren and Shou to the children.

All children and a young man entered the house. Hana, the oldest of all of them quickly closed the door.

"Why don't you all play with Ren and Shou," they pouted at first before nodding happily. Naruto gave a reassuring glance toward the two nervous boys. "Hana, I want to talk," the red haired girl blinked before telling the children to play outside.

"Is something wrong, Naruto," she looked worried when she saw his serious face. Naruto transformed back to his real age. Now it was a 7 year old Naruto who stared back at her instead of a 19 year old young man.

Yashiharu Hana was the only one among the 21 orphans that Naruto had gathered in 3 months who knew about the real Naruto. That meant she knew about his real age, and the furball inside him. The others only knew him as their adopted brother who had a dream to build a hidden shinobi village for orphans and shunned people.

Hana respected and loved him as her brother though. Naruto had saved them all from starvation and provided them a nice shelter. Naruto placed her in charge to keep all the children in line when he was out training (and killing). Sometimes she couldn't believe that it was a 7 year old boy who protected them all.

"I won't return here for…" he frowned.

"**A year**," Kyuubi told his host.

"A year."

She looked up in surprise. "What? Why?"

"I need to build our village," he shrugged.

"We can help you. We have been training hard since you brought us together."

Naruto shook his head. "You can't. Soramaru-sama told me that we have to go to the demon realm to acquire some things needed for the village," she gasped at this statement. "Even if you have been training hard, there is no way you can fight against demons. Plus, a human with no demon blood can't stay in that realm for long," she grimaced at the thought that her little brother would go to the demon realm, knowing that he would do it even if she forbid him.

Naruto placed his backpack on the table. She opened the pack and gasped at the amount of money inside it. "I'll leave you the money that you'll need and you can also use the money I saved in the bank for emergencies." He gave her his credit card. "Use it wisely," she nodded.

"We won't need to buy much food from the city. We can hunt food in the forest and we can also plant vegetables in the backyard. We only need to buy clothes and weapons and maybe some other things. Personally I think the money inside is more than enough."

"Just in case, okay. About Ren and Shou…" Hana looked up. "They are brothers and have a bloodline. I don't know much about it, but it has something to do with compressed air. Ask Yuji to help them. His bloodline is similar to theirs so perhaps he could help. Also the boys will need a lot of healthy food. They're too thin and were even worse when I met them 7 days ago in Wind country." she nodded. "So, how's the training progress?" she smiled at his question and told him about the children's progress.

0-0 0-0 0-0

"This is it!" Naruto gulped at the sight of the dark portal in front of him that Soramaru had made with his help.

"**Brace yourself, kit. It will be a bumpy trip**." Naruto almost groaned. "**When you arrive in the demon realm, quickly compress your human presence so you won't attract demons. You'll see a huge red mountain in the realm. Go there to visit Kielle, a bird demon**." Kyuubi projected her image to Naruto who observed her figure thoroughly. The image was that of a huge bluish white bird with glowing wings and tail. Her eyes were silver and there was a small golden stone on her forehead. "**She is my friend and ally. She'll provide you with some things that we'll need**."

/…She won't eat me, will she?/ Naruto gulped.

"**No, she won't. She's one of the… 'kind' demons in the realm. Beside, you will project my chakra when you are in the nearby area. She'll feel it and meet up with you. You can leave it to me then**." Naruto nodded in relief. He had been trained by Kyuubi for months to specifically fight against demons, but he still had his doubt. He probably could fight against some lesser demons with his own power and higher demons with the addition of Kyuubi's chakra. Thankfully, since the change that the fox demon had made to his body, his red chakra could now flow freely but it was better not to take any risk.

Taking a deep breath, Naruto jumped into the dark portal.

TBC…

R.E.V.I.E.W!!


	9. Chapter Nine

Author's Note: Edited by **KarinMS**.

Chapter Nine

The Demon Realm

Naruto watched the end of the dark tunnel with a sigh of relief. When Soramaru told him it would be a bumpy road, he wasn't kidding. It seemed like forever seeing only darkness that creeped him out, so it was a relief to see the light from the end of the tunnel.

"**Now comes the hard part**," the fox warned him making Naruto blink in question.

Just as the demon said it, a wave of electricity ran through his body making him cry out in pain. Kyuubi quickly sent his chakra through Naruto's body and soon the pain was gone.

"W-What the fuck was that?" the blond panted.

"**You've just rammed through a seal that was designed to keep humans out of the demon realm. You'll be dead if I didn't change your body months ago. I sent my chakra a moment ago to mask your human presence and made the seal identify you as demon**."

"Thanks," Naruto whizzed.

"**Humph, I just don't want to die with you this early before we can show those scum our prowess**," the demon growled and paced around his much bigger cage than the cage he had months ago. It seemed that changing Naruto's seal to allow his chakra run more freely in the boy's vein also gave the fox more freedom.

Naruto clamped his mouth shut as he rolled his eyes. 'So much for wanting to hear a 'you're welcome' from him.' His eyes darted toward the light and he smiled. It felt like he had just taken a step toward his dream. He put his arm across his squinting eyes to cover them from the blinding light.

Naruto felt like he was thrown out of the tunnel using a catapult. "HUUUAAACH!" Naruto opened his eyes as he sailed through the air. He observed his surrounding. The sky around him was a blackish red. There were two glowing red moons in the sky. He looked beneath him and gasped when he saw thousands of huge sharp rocks were spread out in the field below him like needles. His stomach lurched when he felt his body was being pulled down by the gravitation.

"O, shit," he cursed. Falling from hundred meters in the air without any kind of lifeguard didn't seem really appealing. An image of his body stabbed by those rocks came to his mind making him even more nervous. "Damn, there must be someone that hates me up there," was what he said before he yelled in fear as he plunged into the rocky field below.

Naruto gulped when he saw the rocks seemed to be bigger as he fell nearer towards them. Guided by his survival instinct, Naruto quickly focused his chakra to his hands and feet. He quickly latched to the rock using everything he got. He hissed as his palms' skin was shredded trying to stop his fall. His thigh was pierced by a sharp rock and bleed like crazy. In a split second Naruto jumped from the rock to avoid the other pointed rock below him that would stab him if he didn't act so quickly. Naruto crossed his arms in attempt to protect himself and let out all his chakra around him to act as a cushion as he neared the rocky surface.

A loud crash was heard throughout the field making small black winged lizard creatures look up in surprise as they felt the ground shake and the wind blow angrily from the crash site. A cloud of dust covered the area.

Naruto coughed from all the dust that covered the area around him. His wounds throbbed painfully as they bled. As usual his regeneration kicked in and in minutes the torn skin were patched up leaving unblemished skin that didn't indicate that there had even been a wound there. His clothes were still torn though.

As the dust dissipated, Naruto watched his surroundings in silence. The ground he had landed on was now a 10 meters wide and 3 meters deep crater. Still wincing at the shock Naruto tried to stand up only to have his legs trembling and brought him back to sit on the ground.

"Geez… I thought I would die a moment ago," Naruto planted his hand on his chest. He could feel his heart still beating fast. Naruto lied in the crater, trying to rest for a moment.

"**Kit, get up from there NOW!"** The fox shouted.

/What? Why?/ Naruto sat up again.

"**There is a possibility that the loud crash has been brought to the attention of some demons out there. I want you to hide until I feel that it is safe!"** Naruto grumbled, but he complied. He forced his trembling legs to stand up. He hung his backpack on his shoulder. The blond quickly hid his presence just like the fox taught him before in preparation to go to this demon realm and exited the crater as fast as he could. He found a hiding place far away from the crater made out of sharp rocks that crossed each other, making it resemble a small cave.

Ten minutes later Naruto saw a group of black skinned demons running toward the crater. They were humanoid. Their eyes resembled that of insects. There was a blade on each of their arms. A blade that Naruto noticed was sharp. He gulped and took a step back inside the cave.

/What are they?/

"**They are Rag'sheit. D-class demons. They don't have any special powers but they have superior speed than a normal shinobi. Your speed is faster than theirs and you could probably handle five of them at once in your state right now **(Naruto burned almost all of his chakra to provide him the cushion he needed against the impact) **even if it was with difficulty, but I doubt that they were the only Rag'sheit out there that ran to the crater. You should know that they're hunting in groups and have a very good coordinated teamwork. Their eyes also allow them to see much better than humans**." Kyuubi sniffed disdainfully at the mention of the D-class demons. It seemed that he didn't like them. As if sensing what he wanted to say, Kyuubi continued, "**and I don't like them because they will try to hunt newly born cubs or kits for food. The canine and feline demons all hate them and will try to kill them on sight. Unfortunately those filths are also good at making hiding places**."

/…Oh./

"**You should hide for a moment until they dispersed. They will see you as food if they find you and I'd rather not having you found by any demon at all before we arrive at Kielle's mountain, the Hikoushu mountain**."

/Okay. But you know… you should've warned me about those rocks./ Naruto complained.

"**I couldn't kit. The end of the tunnel is always moving and even I can't predict its movement. It was the same with the tunnel toward the human realm, I can't choose where I would land**." Naruto nodded dejectedly at the explanation. He really hoped that when he came back to the human realm he wouldn't end up in a crowded place or especially hidden village. That would result in disaster.

/Wait a minute, does that mean that I could have end in another demon's territory?/ Naruto shrieked inwardly.

"**Hmm… probably**." Naruto gaped in disbelief at the answer. "**Anyway if I'm not wrong you're currently in Iwaseki Field. If that's true than we're on the west side of Hikoushu Mountain, thankfully it isn't really far**."

They waited for hours inside the cave until they felt that the last demon had gone away. Naruto could feel his strength and chakra come back to him during those hours. Carefully he slid out of the cave and jumped toward the highest rock he could find. The wind caressed his face. His spiky blond hair waved around him as he looked around him to see the high mountain. His eyes squinted when he saw a bright red rock as if there was flame around it.

"**That's Hikoushu Mountain and no, there is no flame around it. The rocks there are bright red in color. They're good for storing chakra actually. Perhaps we can ask Kielle to give us some of them. They could be advantageous to have**."

/Exactly, what will we ask from her?/

"**That would be some hikouseki and probably those shuseki and some other things you don't need to know right now**."

/The what and the what?/ The fox sighed in annoyance.

"**I'll tell you later when we're there, alright!"** Soramaru grumbled. "**For now concentrate on going to that mountain, in one piece I might add and of course alive**."

/Fine./ Although not satisfied with his answer, Naruto quickly ran through the field carefully to avoid any demons nearby. He was really glad that Kyuubi had taught him how to hide his chakra and human presence. He could only hope that he wouldn't be killed by the demons before he met the bird demon.

Killing eight E-class demons (two Rheist; winged lizard demon with acid saliva, four Threon; one-horned goat demon, and two Byou; white ape demon with sharp claws) and two D-class demons (Rag'sheit) on his way Naruto entered Kielle's territory after 3 days of running.

Naruto took a step back when suddenly a huge circle of bluish flame appeared in front of him. A huge glowing bluish white bird appeared with a high pitch thrill.

It seemed that it was Kielle who found them instead of Naruto who found her.

The silver eyed bird peered closer at Naruto, making him nervous.

"Sora…maru?" She let out a confused thrill. She could feel her friend's presence inside the human boy. And speaking of human… how in the hell could one of them appear here? She teleported here in hope of finding her missing friend when she felt his presence in her territory, but instead of the nine tailed fox demon, she found a young human child with the fox's presence inside him. For other demons that weren't close with Kyuubi, they wouldn't be able to tell if the fox demon crossed their territory if the fox wanted none of them to feel his presence, but Kielle was different from them. She had befriended the grumpy fox and they formed a bond and promised to help each other in need. She was worried when the fox was missing for years and not even she could feel him anymore. And she had tried many times to search for him in the demon realm.

"**Nice to meet you again, Kielle**." Her silver eyes widened in shock when she heard his voice. It didn't come out from the boy's mouth, but instead it came from… inside him? She frowned confusedly at the nervous human boy.

"Soramaru, where are you? And who is this boy? Why did I feel your presence inside him?" The fox let out a dry chuckle.

"**I am INSIDE the kid in front of you**."

"What? How could that be possible? It is impossible?"

"Are… are you Kielle-sama? Soramaru-sama's friend," the human asked anxiously.

"Yes, what is it for you? A human like you especially a child shouldn't be able to cross the seal… What is your relation with him? Answer me, boy," she demanded, although she wasn't angry. Confused, yes, but she wasn't angry with the human in front of her.

"**Tell her the truth, kit**."

Tell her the truth what? The bird demon peered in confusion at her friend's statement.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto… and I'm Soramaru-sama's vessel."

Silence.

Kielle gaped at the human below her in shock. She thought she had probably become too old. Her ears didn't function normally.

"You're what?"

"**He's my vessel, Kielle**." It was the fox himself who answered.

"The hell!" She thrilled in shock. "How could that happen?"

"**You know that I was missing, right?**" She nodded. "**Well, I went to the human world and had a rampage in a shinobi village there. Got sealed inside kit afterwards by his human father and the leader of that that village**. Kielle could hear his hatred toward the village, but she could also hear some respect (and also distaste) toward the human leader. She could feel her own anger rise as he watched the boy who held her dear friend away from freedom.

"Do you want me to kill him, Soramaru?" The human boy took some steps back away from her. She probably couldn't kill the boy's father and the villagers, because she couldn't cross toward the human world, but the boy was in front of her right now. It would be easy to kill him.

"**What? NO! If you kill him, you'll kill me too. Beside I have made a deal with kit**."

"What deal? And don't you think it will be easier to extract your essence from him?"

"**I don't think you can overpower Shinigami's curse, Kielle**."

"Shinigami?" Kielle gasped. For a human to summon Shinigami, the god of death, should be an impossible feat. It seemed that it wasn't that impossible though, since the proof was in front of her. All her question about their deal escaped her mind. "I presume the boy's human father was killed for summoning him since not even a demon can survive that?"

"**Yes**."

"Then what can I help you with?" She took a glance to the blonde boy. "And what should I do with him?"

"**Do nothing to him. He's under my protection. And for the help… actually it has something to do with our deal**." The fox grunted.

"Alright, I will tell my children not to touch him," the boy sighed in relief. "And what exactly is your deal with him?"

"**We'll build a new shinobi village for both of us. I'll prove to Konoha's people that I am not someone to be trifled with and kit will get the respect that he should've gotten for being my vessel**."

"A shinobi village? Have you gone crazy? Why can't you and the boy just stay here after you burn this Konoha to the ground?"

"**And let the humans think that I'm only capable of destruction?**" The fox raised an eyebrow. "**For demon's sake, Kielle, those filths humiliated me; both by sealing me and by treating the boy as if he was trash. Even if I didn't like to be sealed, he's still my vessel. The least thing they could do was to respect him for stopping me from harming them permanently. I will make sure that they will see that even demons like us can build a prosperous shinobi village, much better than theirs! And then, only when I can see them being crushed by the upcoming tide of chaos that I'm pretty sure will come soon to the human world, to see their village crumble while the village built by the demon they sealed stood in glory, I will be satisfied**."

"Yes, yes. I know that even if you love brutal fighting, you also love strategic planning. Does that mean that you'll come back here afterwards?" She asked hopefully. She really missed his quirk attitude and presence.

"**Unfortunately I can't. Even if Naruto is my vessel he can't stay here long. Probably for a month or two, but he definitely couldn't stay here forever, as much as I'd like it**."

/But I thought you said that we will be away from the human realm for a year./ Naruto said confusedly.

The fox ignored him and continued his talk. "**And I guess that Kirai**," he spat the name distastefully, "**has taken place on my throne, hasn't he?"**

"…Yes. He has taken your place. I understand. I won't force you to stay here, but can you perhaps… visit me sometime?" She asked.

"**Of course, Kielle. I'll make sure of that**." Both demons smiled.

"Good. Well then, what can I help you with? Oh and perhaps I should introduce myself to you, little one. Soramaru seems to like you—"

"**I do NOT!"** The fox shouted in annoyance.

"And for that I'll help you as much as I can too. My name is Kielle, the leader of Sharn'gotti, my demon race. Pleasure to meet you Uzumaki Naruto; human vessel of my friend Soramaru." Kielle ignored her grumbling friend. The boy smiled at her sudden hospitality. It was much, much better than being on the receiving end of her hostility.

"Thank you," he said. Kielle nodded in satisfaction.

"I take it that you want some hikouseki, shuseki and my feathers for your soon-to-be village?"

"**Yes, and some of your children**."

"My…children? Well, I suppose I could do that. They breed like crazy and I think my race is overpopulated. There are many chicks dieing because of the lack of nutrition. Perhaps… it will be the best solution for both of us. The moonlight can only give measly nutrients for them and there aren't many small demons to be hunted for food here. Thankfully with Shuseki here some of the problem is alleviated. The sunlight in the human world could probably sustain their lives without them having the need to eat. The problem is I don't think they can cross a seal designed to keep demons out of the human world. Heck, I won't even be able to cross it because I'm not one of the chosen ones."

"**Give me some adults and some eggs. Naruto will give some of his human blood for them to be able to cross the seal. I know that it isn't enough, but I will protect them with my power. It won't be a problem if we combine both factors**."

"…I guess so."

"**Beside we won't go to human world for at least 15 years**."

"15 YEARS?" Naruto couldn't help yelling. "B-but you said that I won't be able to stay here for long and you said that we'll be gone for a year only."

"**The time moves differently in each realm, kit. After we collect everything we need from here, we'll go to the 3rd realm. It doesn't have an official name, but it is a realm between the human and the demon worlds. There you can stay for hundred of years without worry. 20 years there are equal to a year in the human realm. The demon realm's timeline moves the same with the human realm's time though. Of course a human without demonic power won't be able to stay in the 3rd realm. You should be thankful that I'm inside you, so that factor wasn't a problem**," the fox told him.** "There we can build the settlement for the village and then move it to the human realm afterwards**."

"I-I…" Naruto couldn't find his voice.

"Come with me, little one. We'll go to get them. Climb up!" Naruto climbed on to her carefully, not wanting to ruffle her beautiful feathers.

Kielle flew toward the east side of Hikoushu Mountain. Naruto gaped as he watched thousands of rocks hovering there; be it small, medium or huge in size. He could also see many Sharn'gotti, smaller than their leader, fly around the rocks. Below the hovering rocks were piles of bright red crystals.

"Whoa," Naruto stated in awe.

"The hovering rocks there are called hikouseki. They will be the foundation of the village, I assume."

"**Yes, they will be**."

"What will you name your village, Soramaru?"

"**Soragakure, the hidden village of sky**," the fox demon stated proudly.

"Soragakure, the hidden village of sky? My, my… how… appropriate the name is and really ingenious. The humans will be surprised to see a hidden village in the sky!" she thrilled in amusement.

"You meant that you actually want to build a village in the SKY?" Naruto was shocked. He thought that they would build on the ground or probably even in the water, but in the sky? He had never thought of that.

"**Of course I did. Just by building them in the sky the problem of outer security is solved. Except if someone foolish enough to go against us doesn't have a bird summon, there is no way they could go to the village**." Soramaru boasted proudly at his ingenious thinking. He had thought of it the moment the idea of building a hidden village crossed his mind.

"The red crystals below are called shuseki. They can convert light energy into chakra and also store chakra given to it. I always put some of my chakra there weekly in order to give nutrients for my children. Their birth crystals aren't efficient enough to convert moonlight energy into chakra for their nutrients. With those crystals, you won't have any worry about the energy needed to run your village. Come I'll introduce you to my children!" With that she flew toward her race.

Naruto stood on Kielle in awe. It seemed that his dream could be realized after all. It looked like there were some advantages having a great demon sealed inside him aside from the great regeneration and power.

TBC…

I am waiting for your review!


	10. Chapter Ten

Disclaimer: Guys, I'm not even a Japanese and none of my family is a Japanese. My mom will definitely kill me if I change my name into Kishimoto Masashi.

Author's Note: In this chapter you'll se when Hidden Sky decided to reveal its existence to the world, so yeah, it is decades (in the 3rd realm at least) after Naruto went to demon realm. Actually this chapter isn't the true chapter 10, but I have some problems trying to write the right chapter. Inside it would be Naruto's progress in making Hidden Sky. I have ideas on it, but still can't write the damn chapter. So I decided to leave it alone for now until I got an actual idea of what to make for that chapter. It will definitely be a long chapter (for me anyway) except if I decided to cut the chapter into 2 or 3 chapters. Inside those chapters will be: Naruto's progress on making the village, going to 3rd realm, recruiting people, Naruto's meeting with Kimimaro, how Naruto manages the village as the leader, the ranking system in Hidden Sky, etc. So you can see, yeah it will be a pretty long one if I don't separate it.

So you won't be confused about Naruto's age (I myself is confused. God, I hate mathematic) I will put the timeline here right now:

October 10, age 1  Naruto was born, Soramaru was sealed inside Naruto. Naruto's father, Arashi, the fourth Hokage died

Age 5  Naruto's first meeting with Kyuubi

Age 6  Naruto ran from Konoha. His lineage was revealed by Kyuubi

Age 6 ½  Naruto's body was changed by the fox demon

Age 7  He went to the demon realm and met with Soramaru's friend, Kielle, the Sharn'gotti demon. He stayed there to refine his skill and to get helps from the demons who had debts to Kyuubi and Kielle

Age 7-8  He polished his skill in 3rd realm and learning his father's jutsu scroll all the while making more progress with the village (still no people there). Creating a seal that would let people imbued with the seal went through 3rd realm for decades before their bodies started to strain. The seal also had other properties aside from letting human went to 3rd realm (which will not be written here, so don't ask), NOT demon realm

Age 8  Exiting the 3rd realm, his age by then was 23 ½ years old. Began recruiting people for his village. Put them on a temporary house with the rest of the orphans he found before he was 7 years old.. Went back to 3rd realm with the people there telling them about the different timeline between both realm, occasionally some of the villagers went back to the shinobi world to do things there. Naruto and others were still recruiting.

Age 9  The first time Naruto established Sora group, a mercenary group in the shinobi world that would be the seed of Hidden Sky. Meeting with Kimimaro (14 years old) and recruited him. Establishing information network and things like that. Performing mission and start buying lands for Sora group's temporary head quarter in shinobi world. People in 3rd realm were starting to have the next generations of the villagers. The ones who had spent 20 years inside 3rd realm (except Naruto) had to go back to shinobi world to avoid any health problem. They can still go occasionally to 3rd realm. They stayed in the temporary headquarters layered with seals for protection.

Age 12  Right now Naruto is…decades…years old. With the times he jumped to shinobi world for recruiting and other things, I myself got confused with his age and couldn't decide for the life of me his age right now ( _sigh _). Don't worry his appearance is still a 30 years old man. With the fox demon inside him, he could live for hundreds of years. Kimimaro by now is 34 years old.

When I finish writing the real chapter 10, I will post it soon. If you see this chapter again, it means that I posted the previous chapter instead of the next chapter after this. Confused? That's your own problem (_wink wink_).

Chapter Ten

**Years later in the 3rd realm**

A blond man walked through a wide corridor leisurely when a white haired man ran toward him. He raised an eyebrow as the man walked him side by side.

"Naruto-sama, is it true that we will introduce our village formally in this year? The blonde man's personal guard, Kimimaro, a man that joined his village when he was 14 years old, asked him.

The one he asked nodded in confirmation and the white haired man couldn't help but smiled. "Yes, it was decided in the meeting that we're already strong enough to deal with any problem that might face us when we reveal ourselves. The news will soon be announced to the rest of the villagers," the whiskered blonde man smiled whistfully.

"In what country we will settle on?" he asked curiously.

"We have some choices, but Wave country won in the end. It doesn't have another hidden village. The country has the potential to become a powerful country if it is managed right and carefully and it will be easier to convince the Wave daimyou to let us settle there than the other countries."

Kimimaro frowned. "How so?"

"Hmm? Oh the Wave country is a poor country and is infested by criminals from Gatou's company—"

"Isn't he the owner of the drug company that we have just destroyed 2 months ago? He interrupted.

Naruto smirked. "Yeah, he is. Anyway since Wave has so many criminals they can't handle, the daimyou will definitely agree with our offer. We help them get rid Gatou and help to build their country and we will be given permission to establish our own village there. Not to forget that since it is an archipelago country there will be much water there, and since most of us came from Water country who specialized in water jutsu, the country will be perfect for us," the bone user nodded in understanding.

"I see, so when will you plan to make an agreement with the daimyou?"

"A week or under from now on, I guess. I'll have the time to tell the rest of us and I'll ask the investigation teams to gather information needed about the country in a week."

"That fast?"

"Er…when I said a week, I meant a week of shinobi world time, so it will be months here…but I'll announce it right now, I have asked Haiku to gather all of them in the main ground. We have dreamed of this for years afterall and they will want to know the good news. By the way, it is also decided that I will change my name into Kazama Sora, or at least that'll be my name outside Hidden Sky. That way Konoha won't relate me to the boy they so despised," Naruto murmured bitterly.

"It's their loss. For us, you're our savior and leader, no matter if you have a demon inside you or not. But won't they relate your name with yondaime?" he voiced his doubt.

"So? It should be my birth surname if the incident more than 5 decades ag—drat! I mean 12 years ago. Shit, since the time moves differently between worlds, I'm confused now. Anyway I want to honor my father's name even if I'm still bitter against him for sealing Soramaru-sama inside me."

"But if he didn't seal Soramaru-sama inside you, there won't be any Hidden Sky right now and perhaps most of us still live in uncertainty and suffering, including me," Kimimaro interjected.

Naruto stopped walking and turned to him. He looked quite stunned by the statement. Slowly a smile formed on his face. "You know what? You're right. Absolutely right. Come, Kimimaro-kun, I think it's time for us to tell the villagers of the good news!" Naruto started to walk again.

The face of the father of 3 more Kaguya children brightened. "Hai, Naruto-sama!" he joined his leader walking toward the center of the village.

"By the way, do you know another reason why I chose to use Kazama name?" Kimimaro shook his head. Naruto grinned. "I want to throw Konoha out of the loop when they heard my name. What do you think they will think when they see a man resemble their dead leader with the same surname?" he asked.

"Probably thinking you're related to him," he replied in a heartbeat.

"Wouldn't it be nice to see their face when they knew the truth that not only I am related with him, I'm his actual son and the Kyuubi vessel they despised?" 2 identical smirks plastered on their face, before they laughed in amusement.

**Meanwhile in Konoha**

The current leader of Konoha was stamping a stack of papers when the door to his office opened, revealing his assistant bringing in another pile of papers for him. The old Hokage nearly groaned when he saw the sight.

"More paperwork?" he settled on sighing, hoping that it didn't sound like he was whining. That would be rather embarrassing. His assistant looked apologetic as he put the papers on the desk. Sandaime sighed once more. "Can you stamp these papers while I read through those papers? I have sorted them out, so you'll only need to stamp them and I can just sign them later," he said to his brunette assistant.

"Of course, sandaime-sama," the leader of Konoha relinquished the papaers to him and took the other paper stack.

He was halfway reading through the papers when a report inside one of the paper caught his interest. "Why is a report about a land selling by the Fire daimyou lands on my desk?" he asked to no one particular, but his assistant answered nonetheless.

"A land selling? Could it be about a 115-acre land with a small forest and a lake included in the border of Fire and Water country?" he asked back.

Sandaime read the report further. He nodded. "Yes, you're right. How did you know about it?"

"It's only a wild rumor circulated in shinobi countries, but it is said that the new owner of the land is involved with the Sora group," he answered.

Sandaime looked up to his assistant, feeling rather surprised. "Really?" he went back to skim through the paper thoroughly and after a minute of careful reading the whole paper, he put the interesting report back to his desk. He leaned on his couch, face frowning.

The Sora group. It was a mercenary group that emerged 3 years ago, and since then they're growing rapidly. The group accepted high-class missions without complaints or many questions. It is said that they haven't failed any mission yet. Some of Konha's clients and potential clients turned to the group's service and the village was quite upset by the loss of their clients.

He had sent 3 investigation squads to gather information about the group, but they couldn't seem to gather much information about them. The group was so mysterious and secretive, and none of the clients know much about them, much less the direction to their headquarter. It was quite a talk among the hidden villages, because it seemed that they too had client loss because of their existence.

The bits of information they gathered were that they worked really efficient and silently. It was rumored that they silent move rivaled Hidden Mist' shinobi, a fact that he knew infuriate Mizukage and Mist's shinobis. The mercenary group also had tattoos in their left forearms, just like Konoha's ANBU, although the symbol was different. It was shaped as a fox with 4 tails, 5 tails, or 6 tails. The investigation squads guessed that it was the way they ranked their members, with the people who had less tails had lower ranks than the ones who had more tails. He felt a pit on his stomach when he remembered a report about a man that had a tattoo of nine-tailed fox, presumably the leader of that mercenary group, massacred a band of missing-nins on his own.

Needless to say that the council was in uproar when they heard the news. Talks about the massacre and the tattooed man reminded them of the Uchiha massacre done by its on member and of Kyuubi. To think that the group dared to use a symbol of Kyuubi that 12 years ago wreaked havoc in Konoha brought cyies of outrage from some of the more radical council members who wanted them to be eliminated for…mocking them. He and the more rational members managed to dissuade them from bringing that conversation in any council meeting anymore. To go against an unknown group just because they thought they were mocking them was a definite no-no. They couldn't spare their shinobis to go against them for such silly reason and the other countries would definitely looked down upon Konha if they waged battle against the group. The repercussions of that kind of thin was too great for Konoha to be done.

Hokage also got information that the group mostly used water jutsu, but it is said that the infamous leader of the group never did any water jutsu or even other elemental jutsu. Infact he only used taijutsu to kill the missing-nins and no ninjutsu or genjutsu. From the information the squads gathered, the man had blonde hair though the witnesses never got to look his face clearly, so they could only tell them about him vaguely. It is also said that the man was strong, perhaps even as strong as Tsunade if not even stronger, and that he was as fast as Gai, Konoha's own taijustu specialist. He could also shrug genjutsu as if it was a child play. To say that the information was quite staggering was the understatement of the year.

Sandaime has written to Jiraiya about it, asking him to investigate the group with his impressive information network that sandaime knew him to have. But his former student didn't reply at all. Possibly because the letter he had sent with the aid of the best delivery bird Konoha had never been received by his pervert student. There were rumors about a pervert old man peeking on woman bathhouses in various towns and cities, of course, but by the time the team he sent arrived there, Jiraiya was nowhere to be found, as if he avoided them. Which might be true, since he has avoided Konoha like plague ever since the death of his student 12 years ago.

"I want Anko here under an hour," the Hokage stated firmly to his assistant. He nodded and quivkly exited the office, leaving the papers he was supposed to stamp on his desk under the paperweight.

Sarutobi wanted to know the details of the land selling under a week.

**Back in 3rd realm, on the main ground**

The people of Hidden Sky were gathered in the main ground, waiting their leader patiently to tell an important news to them. From children to adults, from normal citizen to shinobi were there, wondering just what kind of nes their leader would deliver.

When Naruto walked toward the center of the main floating island, an oracle where the systems to control all things in Hidden Sky were there, they parted to give him and his closest guard a room to walk. A pleased smile on his whiskered face made them relieved, since it meant that the news was a good one.

"People of Hidden Sky, you'll be pleased to know that soon we'll leave this realm and go back to shinobi world where we can rejoice with our other people there!" the people were shocked and silent before a loud cheer erupted from the crowds. "It is time for us to reveal ourselves and let the other Hidden villages to know our might, the might of the people they shunned! Naruto shouted, earning a louder cheer from his people.

"The investigation squads will be sent to gather information needed, so until that time we will still stay here. And we have decided that our new resident would be in Wave country," the people murmured in confusion, most of them had never heard of that country. Naruto decided to enlighten them. "It is an archipelago country near Fire and Water country. I won't keep it secret that the condition of this country right now is bad, but it is not something we can't handle. The country has a big potential, and with our help I'm sure Wave will prosper. The condition of Wave right now resembles us those many years ago when we hadn't been united and were separated from each other. Will you let the country alone to fend for itself?" A chorus of 'No!' rang on the air. "Then I'm proud to say that Hidden Sky will announced its existence soon!" The Kyuubi vessel was proud to see his people band together to make a better future for everyone of them.

**3 days later in Konoha (or 2 months in 3rd realm)**

"You mean that there were more than 15 land selling in various countries done by Sora group in these 3 years?" Sandaime asked Anko who led the investigation disbelievingly.

Anko nodded. "Some of the selling didn't seem to be realated with the group, but after we dug in further, it is revealed that they were behind it," the Hokage frowned. "…And we have an interesting news about Sora group's movement."

Sandaime looked up. "What is it?"

"In these 3 days, that group started to move…differently," she carefully replied. Konoha's leader urged her to continue with a nod. "They dispatched more than their usual numbers to investigate about something."

"And do you know what they were investigating?"

"Yes, a country named Wave. It is a poor archipelago country near Fire country's border. According to the ones they asked, they were asking about the details of Wave conditions," she finished her report. Both were silent for a long time, pondering why the group investigated about Wave.

A knock snapped them out of their reverie. "Enter!"

A jounin under Anko's order entered. "Sandaime'sama, a man from Wave is asking for a C-class mission to escort him back to his country," the black haired man said, knowing that both of them would be interested by the news. Sarutobi and Anko looked at each other.

"Thank you Ginji, you can go now," he dismissed him. "I want Kakashi's and Gai's genin teams to accept the mission. The two should be enough to investigate about that group's movement without being suspicious."

"Are you sure you want Gai to do it? He's…weird," the old man chuckled at her description of Gai.

"That's why I chose him, plus in both their teams there are the best rookies on their generation, so they will have a chance to defend themselves if something happens."

"But if it is only a C-class mission, I don't think that Wave man will need 2 teams with him."

"We'll tell him that the other team needs outside experience and he won't need to pay more, beside I'm sure Kakashi's team will be delighted. The team hasn't gotten a C-class mission yet." Sarutobi replied.

Anko nodded. "Do we need to tell the genins too about the plan?"

Sandaime shook his head. "No, just tell Kakashi and Gai about it," the black haired woman nodded and vanished from his office. He went back to his paper stacks with a sigh. "Now back to the land of papers," he murmured tiredly.

TBC…

R&R!

Eh, I forget to tell you, but starting from Thursday, September 29 2005, I will have a mid exam, so don't expect much from me. Oh and btw, I don't have much time to edit this thing on my own, too tired and too bloody sleepy, so no 'Your grammar sucks!' please.


	11. Chapter Eleven

Disclaimer: Anything you recognize from Naruto manga or anime isn't mine.

Author's Note: I'm glad to announce that I only have 1 more exam to pass! And for the ones who thought that 'Haiku' was 'Haku' in previous chapter but I misspell the name, you're wrong! Haku isn't one of Sora group members. He's with Zabuza. Haiku is an OC of mine. Because there would be many OCs soon, I would give you a list of them later (and it would be useful for me too, so I won't forget them).

Oh and yeah, Naruto himself won't have any relationship with the Konoha rookies. He's way older than them and he's the leader of Soragakure, what would he do with a rookie shinobi? About Naruto's pairing, it would be a NarutoOC, though I haven't finalized my touch on this OC. In the next chapter, I will reveal Naruto's family.

Chapter Eleven

A sixty year old man was leaning heavily on his desk, hand cupping his chin, sighing. He was having a headache dealing with the bad things happened on his country, especially after that criminal lord, Gatou, came, and took over Wave's way of communication. He had set aside precious money needed for building a bridge that could connect Wave top island and main continent, that hopefully could make his country flourish. But of course Gatou had to make things difficult for them.

Last time he heard, the bridge builder, Tazuna, went to Konoha to ask for help 12 days ago. To be honest, he doubted that it would work. The money the could gather was only enough for a C-class mission, which meant that they could only afford genin team that most probably not enough to deal with the thugs and shinobi Gatou hired.

A knock on his door snapped him out of his reverie. "Rokuonji-sama."

"Enter," the Wave daimyou straightened himself. It wouldn't do to let anyone, even if it was his subordinate, his weak posture. His assistant entered the moderate looking office, looking uncertain. The daimyou frowned and sighed. "What now?"

"There are some people asking for your audience, waiting in the hall."

"Who?" he looked intrigued.

"They said they were the representatives from… Sora group."

"That mercenary group?" he paled. Did Gatou hired them to assassinate him, thinking that he was of no use? He shook his head, denying it. If they did were hired to kill him, they would do it secretly, not asking for his presence. "Do you know what they want, Kazuo?" his assistant shook his head. The daimyou sighed once again. "Tell them, I will be there later after I finish with this papers," he tilted his head toward a small stack of paper.

Kazuo nodded and exited the office, leaving his superior staring at the paper in obvious discomfort. Rubbing his forehead, Rokuonji proceeded to stamp the papers, his mind wandering toward his guests and their supposed intention.

5 minutes later, he stood up from his couch and walked toward the hall where his guests were supposed to wait. His guards bowed as he entered the hall. The daimyou's eyes swept pass the room, scanning it. There were 3 strangers sat on the chairs, so they must be the representatives. Rokuonji counted his guards. There were only 5 of them, 2 guarding the entrance where he entered, 2 on the front entrance and 1 beside him. He doubted they could stop them if they decided to attack. With a resignation, the old man sat on his chair.

For a moment, no one spoke. Each side inspected the other. The 3 supposed members of Sora group stood from their chairs. His guards tensed, but they didn't make any threatening move. His guests were all male. In the left was a silvery blonde haired man. His hair reached past his shoulder to his waist. A fang shaped earring adorned his right ear. His soft blue eyes and light hair looked contrast against his dark clothes. A long thin sword strapped on his waist. His arms crossed casually. If Rokuonji didn't know better from his experience, he would think of him as a pretty woman at first glance. Despite his casual stance and indifferent eyes, he knew that the silver haired man was alerted to any suspicious move.

The man in the right was shorter and looked younger. His hair was white that reached his shoulder blade. There were 2 red dots on his forehead. He didn't see any weapon or pouch strapped on his white clothes, but Rokuonji knew not to underestimate him. The white haired man stood close to the last man, as if guarding him (AN: sorry guys, but I don't remember Kimimaro's eye color).

The last man, the one in the middle, was taller than both of his companions. His spiky blonde hair looked contrast with his tanned skin. Two weapon pouches strapped on both thighs, indicating that the man was ambidextrous. He wore blue shirt with black pants and trench coat colored black outside and dark red inside that wasn't strapped by belt. His blue eyes stared right on his own brown eyes. The man looked…familiar. It was as if he had seen him before, but couldn't place it.

"Welcome to my humble abode," Rokuonji said, not entirely wrong on it, since his place wasn't really impressive for a daimyou like him. "What can I help you with?" he asked carefully.

The three men bowed respectfully. A weight in the daimyou's shoulder was lifted. It seemed that they didn't come here to kill him. "We're the representatives of Sora mercenary group. My name is Kazama Sora, the leader of our group. Beside me," he looked at the white haired man, "is my guard, Kaguya Kimimaro. And in my right (though it was in the left side if it was from daimyou's point of view) is Yutsu Raido, the head of Investigation in our group. We come here to make a proposal that I'm pretty sure advantageous for your country."

Rokuonji's mind stopped working when he heard the names. He recognized the 2 of the 3 surnames. Kaguya was the name of a shinobi clan that was supposedly wiped out by Mist shinobi years ago when they assaulted the dominant hidden village of Water country. It seemed the news wasn't right, since there was still a member of that bone user clan stood in front of him. Kazama however…now he remembered why the blonde man looked familiar. He had seen the face in a meeting 15 years ago among the numerous daimyous and hidden villages' leaders. The man in front of him had a face that resembled the face of the fourth leader of Konoha, Kazama Arashi. Same surname, similar face. He wondered if this man was a lost twin of yondaime, but that was impossible, because if that was true the man in front of him should be in his forty not around thirty. Still there was a probability that the man was Konoha's previous leader's relative.

Rokuonji snapped out of his thought, when he realized that he was staring at them. He pushed his questions about their name later after he knew what they wanted. "May I know, what is your…proposal?"

This time it was the long haired man, Yutsu Raido, who spoke. His face was passive, no emotion was registered on his face. A deep voice came from his throat, confirming that the person was indeed a man. "We know about your country's…problem," the daimyou frowned. "And we'd like to help you."

The daimyou was silent. "It was…unusual for a mercenary group to offer its service, instead of the other way around. What's the catch?" he asked bluntly.

The leader of the mercenary group gave a slight smile at his bluntness. "I will go straight to the point. We want to become your country's hidden village. We want to be known as hidden village officially instead of a mere mercenary group," there were gasps rang on the hall coming from the daimyou's guards. The old daimyou itself stiffened.

"…From what I heard, your mercenary group was successful. Why do you want to become a hidden village that would limit your movement?" he asked curiously.

"Since the first time the group was founded, it was already decided that we want to be a hidden village. We want recognition from every country and the hidden villages. It was true that becoming a hidden village will limit our movement, but I'm sure we can make a compromise with you that will satisfy both sides."

"Why this country? Why didn't you choose other country?" he inquired.

"We have investigated all countries for months and we decided to choose your country because it has potential and it doesn't have any hidden village or even a shinobi clan yet. We felt that your country is the best choice."

"…Could you give me time to answer it?"

"Of course," the yondaime look alike nodded.

"Good, my guards will escort you to your rooms. I will give you the answer after dinner tonight," the three shinobis bowed and followed their escort.

"Kazuo, gather my advisors!" he commanded his assistant. The brown haired man nodded and exited the hall to do his wish.

Half an hour later, his 3 advisors arrived in the hall. Their faces were deep in thought, having been forewarned by Kazuo about the meeting.

"I gather you have known what I want your advice for?" the three nodded simultaneously. "What do you think of their proposal?"

"Well, we do need help to flush Gatou out of this country," the first advisor, Hida Ashige, a fairly young but wise man, said. "And I don't think the team we requested from Konoha could help us much."

"We are indeed don't have enough money to pay for high rank mission. The proposal from the mercenary group sounds tempting. We won't need to pay them in advance. Instead we can give them some islands that are not inhabited by human yet. And about the money a country should spare for its hidden village, I think we can make a deal with them that we won't pay them until our country flourish. Since they are a successful mercenary group, they certainly have enough money to sustain themselves for the duration," the finance advisor, Shigaku Sai, informed.

They turned to the last advisor, Kirihara Jinbei, the oldest of the advisors. "I heard they were a strong and powerful group and have links in many country. Indeed that with their help we can improve Wave faster, but we have to be careful making our deal. We wouldn't want to replace Gatou with other tyranny," the other three nodded in agreement.

They spent the afternoon trying to make a deal that could satisfy both sides. When the dinner was served, the 7 people (4 from Wave and 3 from Sora group) ate quietly. The Wave citizens looked tense, while the three ate casually, as if they knew they would accept their proposal. Joined by Kazuo, they entered and took seats inside the Wave daimyou's office.

Kazuo opened an empty scroll and readied his brush, ready to write.

Rokuonji addressed them. "We have decided to accept proposal, but we also have some conditions," the Sora leader nodded, urging him to continue. "If you have anything to object you can tell us and we can make a compromise."

"Of course."

The Wave daimyou nodded to his advisor, Jinbei. He nodded in reply, opening a small scroll. "First, we will give you 4 medium islands and the small islands around it in the East side of this country," Ashige took the Wave country map and rolled it open and pointed the 4 islands. The islands' names were Amefuru, Sangoshou, Fune, and Koori. Amefuru was the biggest island followed by Koori, Sangoshou, and lastly Fune. Koori was in the center of the other 3 islands with small islands scattered around them. They were situated between Wave and Water country.

"May I ask their descriptions?" The head investigation of Sora group asked.

"Certainly," Ashige said. "Sangoshou, Koori, and Fune were connected by cave system under the sea. Unfortunately , we haven't uncovered all of them yet. Amefuru itself have a series of caves underneath its ground, but for all we know, it isn't connected with other islands. Plus with the still active small volcano there, it would be dangerous to go inside it," Raido appeared to be interested at the description. "Amefuru has fertile land, but this island isn't inhabited because of the difficulties to come to that place. The island faces the ocean directly with only 2 small islands acted as barrier, so the wave there is big and there are many coral reefs around it, making it difficult for a ship to pass through."

It wasn't a problem for Sora group, because they can fly there using Sharn'gotti, or they could just build a bridge there, Raido noted inside his head.

"Sangoshou on the other hand, doesn't have fertile land since it was a rocky island. The highest peak of Wave is located there. It's volcano no longer active for centuries. I'm sure it would be a good training ground. It has a Laguna on the north side. Koori would be a good place to build your village. It is surrounded by mangrove forest on the beach and small forest inside the island. There is a big lake there where you can get your water. The problem is Gatou use that island as one of his bases here, but I'm sure you can do something with that. Good thing is there are already facilities there that you can use. Fune is the nearest island from Wave Main Island from that group of islands. It looks like a ship from here, so it was named Fune. It has good fishing spots around and there is a natural harbor there. If you succeed to overthrow Gatou, we'd like our fishermen still can sail there. There is nothing interesting about the small islands. They are…small," he finished lamely. "Any question?"

"Does Gatou know about the cave system?"

"We don't think so. The cave entrance is hidden and none of Gatou's men come from Wave citizen, plus the ones who even knew about the existence of the cave systems are only some selected ones."

"We agreed with the selection," Sora or Naruto as he was known by his people told them.

"Second, we won't give you ransom for some time until Wave can support its people. When Wave is ready we'll set aside 15 percent of our income for your village every year. The amount can be changed depending on the situation. Objection?"

Sora and Raido looked at each other. They shook their head. Sai breathed a sigh of relief.

"Third, any sensitive mission that could effect the situation between Wave and other country should be discussed first with the daimyou and us."

"A question, what if we only know that a mission prove to be disastrous after it happened?"

The advisors and the daimyou stared at each other. Rokuonji cleared his throat. "Then we will discuss the best action we should do afterwards." Sora, Raido, and Kimimaro didn't look like convinced, but stayed silent.

"Fourth, when this country is invaded, you will defend this country."

"What about the payment?"

"Payment?" Sai asked bewildered.

"Yes, payment. Of course, we won't ask any payment if the war is cause by us, but we'd like payment if it isn't caused by us. Afterall we will mobile our forces toward defending this country instead of doing missions."

"Oh, that will be okay. Infact we will supply you your needs even if the war is caused by a mission gone wrong." The kyuubi's vessel nodded in satisfaction. They continued with the conditions from Wave side for 2 hours before it was time for Sora to tell them his conditions.

"Our village will be independent from you. You can't be involved with the selections of the leader or the head of departments. Any dealing with other country involving us should be discussed with us first. The money we get from our missions will be ours," they nodded in agreement.

"Any orphan above 6 years old would be tested whether he is worthy to become our village member or not. Of course if the kid doesn't want to be one of us, we won't object."

"What if there are kids still with parents want to join you?"

"Firstly, we want you to understand that all of our members have a…seal."

"A seal?" they asked curiously.

"Yes, basically this seal will ensure our loyalty to our village. The seal could kill the holder when he tries to betray the village. I won't tell you the detail since it is our village's secret. The kids who want to become one of us should be told of this consequence. They can't tell our village's secret to anyone, even their parents. We won't separate them for their parents, but they would oblige to us, not them. If the parents object with it, their kids can't join us," the advisors nodded.

"The territory you would give us when we succeed to overthrow Gatou is off limit from civilians, except if they have a pass that only us can decide whether we will give it or not, with the exception of Fune island that would be our trading ground. We want cheaper price for our supply."

"We can only do that if your supply links are from Wave," the finance advisor told them.

"Yes, we know and we agree. If our suppliers come from other country, we won't ask cheaper price. On the other hand, we will give you cheaper price for doing your mission requests than other countries' requests. And until Wave people can support themselves, we will lower our mission price for them."

The next day they finalized their contract. The daimyou kept their presence secret so Gatou didn't know about the mercenary group. The three Soragakure village members went back to 3rd realm with a promise they would mobilize their force to bring down Gatou soon.

Naruto played with the contract scroll on his hand and threw it to the air and caught it again with a satisfied smile.

"Jackpot!"

TBC…

R&R!

Ugh, you won't believe me how much trouble I get from naming the OC characters. I have drawn the OC characters' faces, but I haven't scanned them yet. Don't have a scanner, you see. Using Internet rental's scanner is too…expensive and I'm too lazy to go to my brother's place (because he always spends his time around to lecture me, especially when it is in the middle of my mid exam. The lectures I got from my mom via phone are enough, thank you very much. And my bro only repeats my mom's lectures anyway).


	12. Chapter Twelve

Disclaimer: Anything you recognize from Naruto manga and anime owned by Kishimoto Masashi, not mine. The OC characters, on the other hand, are mine. And I assure you there will be many OC characters.

Author's Note: I'm tired, but I have no idea how and why I feel like crap! Btw, anyone knows any web where I can download Bleach manga (English version)? If you want to write the address using the review, I advise you not to write it directly, because it won't show in the reply. Please write it indirectly. Ex: www(.)narutofan(.)com. Thanks !

And I'm sorry that I take long time to update this fic, but I have to finish my assignments first. I haven't gotten much sleep these days trying to finish it, and even then I haven't completed it. _sigh _This week I'll have spare time to write my fics, but I can't promise you anything for the next week and the weeks after that. Anyway, just enjoy this chapter. Mind you that I'm still sleepy when I'm writing this so there are probably more mistakes in grammar than usual. I have neglected this fic for so long and I had to finish this chap and other fics too.

And I have another bad news. I think I had forgotten my notebook in one of my class and I just realized this after 4 days. I lost all my notes of my lessons _and _of Soragakure! The list of head of departments was there! It seemed that I was too occupied finishing my assignment to remember about the book…

Chapter Twelve

Issues

"Yugo!" a light brown haired man turned when he heard his name was called. His brown eyes stared at his energetic blonde leader.

"Naruto-sama," he bowed respectfully.

"You don't need to be so formal, you know," the Kyuubi vessel told him for maybe the hundredth times exasperatedly. Really, the younger man needed to lighten up.

Haruki Yugo was the Head of Technology and Weapon Development Department for their village. He was 24 years old and still single. He might be young, but he was a genius. He spent his time developing new and better technology for Soragakure. For that Naruto was grateful because his help improved the village, but he thought that he needed to rest for once and relaxed for once. Yondaime's legacy knew that there were many women in their village expressed their interests for him, but the younger man was either insensitive or just plain didn't care. If Naruto didn't know better, he would think that he was gay.

The browned haired man didn't reply. Naruto sighed. Why did he bother anyway?

"How's the development of the new gadget?" he asked him.

"We have improved the communication range and the numbers of people who can speak at the same time, but in the other hand the sound grows more indistinguishable. We're trying to fix the problem now. We will test it again in a week."

Naruto nodded. "Do you think you can finish building the communication tower in each headquarter under a month? I think we need to establish our link as quickly as possible. Using messenger birds isn't exactly reliable. The quicker we can receive and send messages the better."

"The 2 towers in Water country are already finished while the rest are only halfway through completion. With our capacity right now we can only finish parts for 2 more towers in one-month 3rd realm time plus 5 days shinobi realm time for setting up the parts there."

"Does that mean since the other towers are already halfway, we can build 4 more towers?" Yugo nodded.

"I want you to finish 2 more towers for the headquarters in Fire and Wind country and don't use the parts for the other tower, we'll need it when we would get the 4 islands in Wave."

(AN: for the ones who still don't understand: they have time to make 2 towers from scratch under a month. Since there is no construction for the tower in Wave yet, it will need the parts exact numbers for one tower. The tower in Fire and Wind country in the other hand are already halfway finished, so they can use the materials to build parts for 2 half-tower. That mean they can build 3 towers: 1 tower builds from scratch, and 2 towers build from halfway through completion OR 4 towers if all towers are already half finished OR 2 towers if they are built from scratch. Just a simple mathematic actually. Hopefully it won't confuse you)

"Is there any other reason why we have to build them so fast? We have allocated two third of our force to build them. And why the Towers in Wind, Fire, and Wave?" Naruto sighed. Trust Yugo to know that there was another hidden reason.

"Well, you might as well know it now than later, especially since you're a head of department," Naruto scratched his head. "I got some disturbing news 2 days ago about the movement of a secretive group called Akatsuki. It is said that they were moving to capture the Great beasts. I don't know their motives, but Soramaru and I don't like it."

"So far we only know 3 jinchuurikis. The Kazekage's son named Gaara who holds Shukaku, the One Tail and me who holds Soramaru, the Ninetails, and Mizuki (AN: she's an OC, not Mizuki in manga) who holds Suijinra, the Three Tails. Akatsuki will definitely move in Wind and Fire country to search us and even if they know that I have been missing from Konoha for years, they would go there to find clues that can help their search. Wave will be our main base soon, so we need tower there. After those towers are finished we can relocate our force for other things. The other towers' completion can wait."

"I understand. I'll make sure that the towers there would be finished soon. Anything else?"

"Yes, Yui asked for you tonight. We're making a dinner with the other Head of Departments. After that we'll have a meeting to decide our next best action."

"All of them?"

"Yes"

"I see. I'll come. When will it be?"

"Six o'clock. I'll see you later then. My son wanted me to train him," Yugo nodded.

0-0 0-0 0-0

"Dad…" a younger version of Naruto was whining. "What's this rubber ball for? I want to train not playing," he scowled. "Beside I'm too old for playing with this thing," he told him with disdain shoving the ball under his father's nose.

Naruto chuckled hearing his son's whine. It was exactly what he did when he read his father's scroll. Only he cursed his dead father instead of whining like his son was doing right now. At that time he thought that his father was joking when he wrote the instructions and he clearly knew that that was exactly just like what his son was thinking.

At the age of 12 years old, his second child, Kazama Shugo, looked almost identical like him when he was his age, except for the whisker mark that his son didn't have. Yui had once complained, wondering why Shugo inherited none of her traits at all. Naruto pointed out that their daughter, Aiko, inherited all her physical traits. That shut her up. Shugo, that was the name his wife picked out, wanting him to protect Soragakure and its citizen just like what his father was doing (AN: I read in dictionary that Shugo means protection, actually it's Japanese-my language dictionary but I translate it into English on my own. And 'Aiko' means shelter, refuge, protection). Naruto didn't say anything because he remembered his memory of their first child, Aiko. He joked with his wife that he wanted to name her after some food. The usually calm and composed woman went berserk after he suggested that, shouting at her husband that even if his own father was crazy enough to name his son after some food (AN: if I'm not wrong Naruto is the spiral thingy in ramen), didn't mean that he had to do the same. Only after Kimimaro helped him, he could subdue her so he could tell her that he was only joking.

Looking up at the spiky hair and the same shade of blonde hair, Naruto smiled, staring at the irritated sky blue eyed boy. "What's funny?" Shugo pouted.

"Nothing, just reminiscing, son. Now what I want you to do with the ball in your palm is…" Naruto told him the purpose of the ball.

0-0 0-0 0-0

"So, what did he say?" his wife for 18 years asked him as she prepared food for dinner tonight when he entered the house.

Naruto didn't say anything. He took off his coat and placed them on a chair before walking to his red haired wife. He gave her a peck on her cheek which she readily replied and sat down on the kitchen chair, watching as she went back to her job, cutting vegetables with the controlled and precise movement of a fine shinobi..

He shrugged and sighed. "Well, you know how he is since he's your cousin. He_ did _agree to join us tonight after I said that there would be a meeting among the departments' heads. Honestly, I just want him to relax for once."

"You know that Yugo is a work alcoholic. All that present on his head are finishing his jobs as fast as he could so he move to do another project. Of course the workload you just gave him wouldn't make much help," Naruto scratched the back of his neck nervously as his wife glared irritated.

"What can I do? We need the communication tower as fast as we can. The com link will help our village's progress in the future and we can monitor things happened on other countries much better," Yui stopped cutting the vegetables.

She turned to the blonde leader. "You're worried of this Akatsuki group, aren't you?"

"No. Yes… I didn't know that there is a group dedicated its life to hunt the bijuu (tailed beast) before. And I don't think I'll like what they would do with those tailed beasts if they ever got their hands on them. I just hope that no one will connect me with the young boy that had run away from Konoha years ago."

"I don't think you need to fuss much about it. You or rather Soramaru-sama can put the genjutsu to hide your whisker marks easily. Plus your age is different than 'Naruto' should be. I'm more concerned with Shugo. He looks so much like you and the boy's age matches with your supposed age. I'm worried if the group thinks that he is you."

Naruto looked up with wide eyes. "I didn't think of that!" His wife rolled her eyes.

"Of course you didn't," she muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing," she shrugged and went back to her job. "How's Shugo's training?" she asked out of the blue.

"Good. I have just taught him the 1st step for learning rasengan. With my pointers, hopefully he'll be able to finish it faster than me," Naruto sipped his tea.

"Tadaima!" a blur slammed the door open. It stopped when it noticed Naruto's presence, revealing a red haired boy. "Otousan!" the boy latched to his smiling father. Naruto grabbed his son and put him on his lap.

"Okaeri, Mamoru. Wash your hands first so you can eat," Yui told her pouting son. "Now," the red head grumbled but complied. Naruto pat his head making him smiled happily before dashing to wash his hand.

"You're spoiling him too much," his wife told him. Naruto looked at her in disbelief.

"I'm not spoiling him," he defended. "I only give him…affection. If I did spoil him, then I always give him everything he wants, which isn't true," he pointed out. Mamoru's head poked out from the kitchen's door.

"Otousan, today I—" Kazama Yui only shook her head in exasperation toward the two chattering shinobis.

This was the ordinary day in Kazama household.

**At night**

All of the people have finished their dinner. The Head of Medical Treatment Department, Kikumi Shiho, helped Naruto's wife to wash the plates. The 2 women banned the men and the other 2 women Kishida Yukari and Yoshino Narue from the kitchen because they didn't trust them to help them. The Head of Poison and Potion Research pouted, while her comrade, the Head of Foreign Affair looked relieved. Narue knew that she had no talent in housewife business and she was exasperated to see Yukari insisted that she could help them when she was a walking disaster. She dragged her forcefully toward the meeting room where the rest of the council members waiting.

Kazama Aiko had to drag both of her brothers from trying to eavesdrop the meeting and forcefully tied them to the beds much to their protests. Annoyed by their incessant yells, she put a genjutsu on them to make them sleep.

It worked.

Both boys yawned as they let out rude swearing to their big sister. Aiko watched them with an amused smile as they drowsed. She released the rope and tucked the blanket to cover their bodies. She went back to the kitchen to help her mother to clean the table. Shiho nodded thankfully to her as she went to the meeting room.

"Where are your brothers?" her mother asked as she put away the wet plates.

"Bed," she replied. Her mother looked up in disbelief. "I put genjutsu on them," the older red head smiled amusedly.

"I should have known," she shook her head with a smile.

**The meeting**

"We need to address some issues here. Ueki, why don't you start?" Naruto asked his blonde haired Head of Administrative Department.

Shousei Ueki stood up from his seat and put a stack of papers on the table. "Alright, the first thing we need to address is about what we will do about Gatou."

"We kill him, that's what," Yukari told him. The sadistic woman snorted as she played with her dark green hair.

"Hush, Yukari, let him continue," Narue admonished her. The object of her scolding grumbled. Ueki gave each of the members 20 papers. They scanned the papers for a moment.

"This is the list of the businesses that Gatou had a hand on that you asked me to investigate," Raido opened his mouth.

The blonde man nodded. "As you can see, Gatou had businesses all over the world, it would be bad to just left them alone."

"Ah…you want to plant our spies everywhere and get more income from this…business," Negishi Hyouga, the Head of Strategy and Warfare, caught on his plan.

"But…drug business?" Shiho asked skeptically. Her green eyes seemed worried. "Ueki, this isn't something we, a hidden village, should do. What about the fate of people destroyed because of these…these atrocious drugs!" she protested.

Narue nodded in agreement with the medic-nin. "She's right, Ueki. All of Gatou's dealings are making civilians suffer. It will damage our reputation as shinobi."

"Not really, Narue," Rakurai Shinjo, the Head of Infiltration and Assasination objected. "We're shinobis and we know that many shinobis are hired to protect criminals or politicians as long as they have money on their pocket. So I don't think it will affect us much."

"Yeah, and we can strengthen our link with it and we can get everything we needed easier and faster."

"Still, the drugs…"

"What if we close down or rearrange some businesses?" Yugo voiced out. All heads turned to his direction. "We can rearrange the drug businesses. We can supply drugs to hospitals instead of civilians or criminals. That way it will work to our advantages without us making civilians suffer and we still get money."

"… I think you're right," Shiho admitted. "We can use the drug as painkillers and we can sell them cheaper than others to the hospitals. The hospitals will get them for cheaper price, although we'll need to make a regulation for the dose and which doctors or hospitals should receive it."

"I can work with the list," Raido told her. She nodded to her comrade thankfully.

"I'm sure we can work out with other businesses like brothels, gambling houses, weapon shops, and black markets without making civilians suffer," Shinku Haiga, the Head of Seal Research Department supported Yugo's suggestion. "What do you think, Naruto-sama?"

Naruto nodded. "That will be okay. We need to seize Gatou's property as we overthrow his empire in Wave. It will make us stronger and we only need to change some things. That way we won't waste our time to build them. Raido, it will be your job to make Gatou signed of the contract to make us as the new owner of his businesses," the silvery blonde haired man nodded. "Shiho, it will be your job to do as you please with the drug businesses. Narue, I want you to cover our tracks in this businesses. I don't want anyone to know about our relation with those businesses until we grow stronger," both women nodded "I want the others to help when necessary," all of the council members nodded. "Good, next issue?"

"This is the map of Wave country," a hologram appeared from round black device that was developed 10 years ago. "As you can see we will get these islands after we deal with Gatou. According to Wave daimyou and his advisor there are cave systems below the 4 bigger islands. Three of the islands are connected by the systems, Sangoshou, Koori, and Fune islands, while Amefuru's cave system isn't connected to other island. I believe it will be better if we map these cave systems as quickly as possible for our defense. I'm pretty sure that when we reveal our existence many hidden villages and countries will be tense, especially Water country and Hidden Mist."

"Yes, we recruit most of our members from that country and many of them are shunned by Water citizens because of their bloodlines. The Mist itself was trying to eradicate people with bloodlines ever since the civil war. And they are the nearest country and hidden village from Wave," the Head of Strategy and Warfare voiced his opinion. "Not to mention that ever since they isolate themselves, we take most of Kirigakure's clients, and other hidden villages' clients actually."

Naruto looked at the black haired shinobi and nodded. "You're right. Not to mention that a secretive group named Akatsuki whose goal is to capture jinchuuriki or bijuu around the world is currently moving… Better be safe than sorry. I don't want to know what they will do when they know that our village holds 2 jinchuurikis. Even if our main base is on the sky, I want to prepare for their attack. Yugo, after you finish with the com towers, I want you to strengthen the defense of our main sky base and the village below us. Haiga I want you to work out some seals that will encase Soragakure so only people with Fox seal or people with permission can enter our ground. Next?"

"Uh, it seems that Water country are working on a new regulation about children in the Water's orphanages. Only Water citizens can adopt the orphans. It seems they notice that many orphans have disappeared without trace. Though fortunately, no one hasn't connected them with us yet," the council members showed uneasy feeling.

"When will they set up the law?" Narue asked anxiously. Her dark green eyes narrowed.

"I'll say 2 months in shinobi realm time. The Water lords will assemble for yearly meeting in Sheira city."

"Well, I don't know about you, but I think the number of our citizen is already enough. We won't be desperate for more people, although if there are more recruitments, it would be better," Hyouga told them.

"But those orphans aren't treated well by Water," Haiga's fit hit the table, creating a crack there. Naruto looked upset at the damage done on his antique table, muttering about how his wife will kill him if she knew about the dent. Haiga's love to children showed clearly on his soft black eyes. "Those politicians used the money for themselves!"

"Sheesh," Yukari rubbed her ear. "No need to get so work up with that, old man. We still have 2 shinobi realm months, right? I say that's plenty of time. Beside we have some of our spies as Water citizens to cover our tracks. It's not like the end of the world and we can get many orphans from other countries. I heard Stone has many of them."

"Yukari, you must remember that we can't do that. Do you forget that Naruto-sama is the son of Kazama Arashi, the shinobi who killed many Stone's shinobi? It would be no surprise that many of the orphans' parents were killed by him," Naruto looked annoyed, both because she talked as if he wasn't there and because she was so damn formal with him, just like Yugo was. Actually not only both of them, the others were also so formal that it grated his nerves. "Although I doubt that people will think Naruto-sama as his son since he looked like 30 years old, but his face resembled him, s people will think that they're related. I know that Iwagakure taught the orphans to hate Konoha and curse the Fourth Hokage."

Yukari sighed. "Fine, fine," she mumbled.

The council moved to the next issues. It was almost dawn when Ueki told them the last issue. "There will be a chuunin exam hosted by Konoha some months after this. No doubt that the village will send invitations to other hidden villages. I doubt Stone or Cloud will join, since they have bad relation with Konoha. There is a probability that we will get that invitation after we establish Soragakure officially. If it happens, will we join or not?" the blue eyed shinobi glanced worriedly at his leader, knowing that he didn't like Konoha.

"No offense, Naruto-sama, but if we want more recognition, we will enter the exam," Narue said.

"I have gathered from my spies that Konoha was investigating us," Raido told them.

"So? It isn't like they and other villages never done it before," the poison expert rolled her eyes.

"They're investigating Wave," he told them.

"What?" chorused some of them.

"It seems that a rumor was running around about us buying lands in Fire country. They have investigated most of our land buying. Though thankfully we had cover the land with seal and genjutsu so it won't be easy for them to enter the ground to search our bases."

"Are you implying that they will try to extract information from us in chuunin exam?" the lead strategist asked him. The kenjutsu master nodded. Some groans could be heard from the meeting room.

"Enough," Naruto said. "We'll talk about it later when it comes to that. For now the meeting is over. It is already morning and you should have rested. I'll give you a day off," Naruto eyed his wife's cousin. "You too, Yugo. I believe your subordinates can handle everything without you for a day or two. You work too much and it won't be good for your body," the medic-nin nodded in agreement.

"…As you wish, Naruto-sama," they left the house.

"Yui, I'll go for a day or two to demon realm. I need to pick more shuseki, sharn'gotti and also report our progress to Kielle," Naruto told his wife after he finished eating. She nodded. "I'll pack some food for you. I doubt you like the food there," she said with a smile. Her husband nodded. "Can you give this scroll to Shugo? He'll need them for his practice as I won't be here to train him," he gave her a small scroll he made that contained the pointer for the 2nd step to learn rasengan.

"Of course," she took the scroll and put it on her pouch. An hour later Naruto left the third realm toward demon realm.

'No doubt that Kielle will be interested of my progress,' Naruto chuckled as he entered the oh-so-familiar dark portal.

TBC…

I will upload the list of characters after this soon, so you won't be confused.

Don't forget to review!


	13. List of Characters

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Author's Note: who knows that making OC characters is difficult? I spend days only to write this list. All of these characters, except Naruto and Kimimaro are all OC characters

**SORAGAKURE COUNCIL:**

**_Uzumaki Naruto/ Kazama Naruto/ Kazama Sora_**-1st generation

Age/status: …?… decades old/ married- 3 children

Hair/eyes color: Blonde/Light blue with silver tints

Special Feature: Whisker mark on his cheek

Characteristic: Energetic but not overly (thankfully), wise (when needed)

Ability: taijutsu and ninjutsu, great endurance, traps, above average kenjutsu

Special Power: Kyuubi's chakra, regeneration, yondaime's jutsus, fast, freakish strength, ability to see aura, and a bloodline to control wind current (AN: Of course this bloodline was made by yours truly, namely ME)

Occupation: **The leader of Soragakure/jinchuuriki of ninetails**

Further info: Naruto's chakra control is good because Kyuubi helps him to control its chakra. The silver tints on his eyes are due to Kyuubi's doings. Naruto has great luck when it comes to gambling. Actually in the first months when the group needed money Naruto just had to go to kasino and win.

**_Haruki Yugo_**-3rd generation

Age/status: 24 years old/ single

Hair/eyes color : Light brown/brown

Special Feature: He usually wore the gadgets he made

Characteristic: Indifferent, only speaking when needed

Ability: engineering, ninjutsu, weapon (especially if it was him who made the weapon)

Special power: None

Occupation: **The Head of Technology and Weapon Development**

Further info: Unlike his cousin, Yui, Naruto's wife, he didn't inherit the bloodline of his family

Appearance:Chapter 12, 14

**_Yutsu Raido_**-1st generation

Age/status: 37 years old/married-no children yet

Hair/eyes color: Silvery blonde/ Silver

Special Feature: He usually has 2 twin katanas and wore a fang shaped earring

Characteristic: Calm, cold

Ability: kenjutsu, observation, genjutsu

Special power: Bloodline that can control people partially, unlike Yamanaka family' specialization which they developed to control people's mind, this bloodline allow the user to implant thoughts/suggestions to people without the people know that someone manipulate him. This ability also make the user has telepathic ability

Occupation: **The Head of Investigation and Interrogation**

Further info: His eyes' color is because of his bloodline. The earring was made by Yugo to suppress Raido's telepathic ability from going haywire

Appearance:Chapter 11, 12, 14, 18

**_Shinku Haiga_**-1st generation

Age/status: 52 years old/married-4 children

Hair/eyes color: Dark brown/ black

Special feature: A long battle scar on his left cheek

Characteristic: Kind, quite, but also stern

Ability: seal expert

Special power: None

Occupation: **The Head of Seal Research**

Further info: He got the scar when he and his team battled a group of E-class demons

Appearance:Chapter 12, 14

**_Kikumi Shiho_**-1st generation

Age/status: 42 years old/married-2 children

Hair/eyes color: Red/green

Special feature: she usually wears white gloves with some seals and a pink crystal on its center

Characteristic: Calm, serene, motherly

Ability: chakra control and medical jutsu, taijutsu

Special power: Bloodline that allow her to send electrical pulse to people's nerves via contact (kinda handy to electrocute someone or to 'revive' someone)

Occupation: **The Head of Medical Treatment, medic-nin**

Further info: The glove was made by Yugo and Hyouga so she won't electrocute someone accidentally and to allow her better control of her bloodline

Appearance:Chapter 12, 14, 18

**_Kishida Yukari_**-2nd generation

Age/status: 37 years old/single-1 child (yes, her child was out of wedlocks)

Hair/eyes color: Dark green/ emerald green with golden iris

Special Feature: Her skin was pale to the point of bluish

Characteristic: A bit sadistic like Mitarashi Anko and is devoted to her research

Ability: traps, poison

Special power: A bloodline in which her body can create antidote for poison administered to her body

Occupation: **The Head of Poison and Potion Research**

Further info: For strong poison that can kill people in seconds, she had to weaken them first before even thinking to drink it. Her body can generate serum, but not that fast, or otherwise she would be dead poisoned.

Appearance:Chapter 12, 14

**_Rakurai Shinjo_**-2nd generation

Age/status: 39 years old/married-1 child

Hair/eyes color: Black/brown (or blue with silver slitted iris when his bloodline is activated)

Special Feature: He usually wears sunglasses

Characteristic: Silent but always give others his opinions when needed, composed

Ability: Good at taijutsu, spying, genjutsu, weapon

Special power: A bloodline that allow him to feel and see the heat emitted by living beings, kinda like X-ray vision which he could use to pinpoint someone's location. A somewhat handy ability when you need to assassinate someone.

Occupation: **The Head of Infiltration and Assassination**

Further info: When he activates his doujutsu too long (24 hours), his X-ray ability shuts down for 2 days to recuperate

Appreance:Chapter 12, 14, 18

**_Shousei Ueki_**-1st generation

Age/status: 45 years old/married-2 children

Hair/eyes color: Blonde/blue

Special Feature: His long hair is done in samurai style (like Kenshin when he was still a battousai)

Characteristic: Patient, like to smile

Ability: making plans and strategy, genjutsu, kenjutsu

Special Power: None

Occupation: **The Head of Administrative**

Further info: He has photographic memory, a handy ability to have as an administrative officer

Appearance:Chapter 12, 14, 18

**_Negishi Hyouga_**-2nd generation

Age/status: 34 years old/engaged

Hair/eyes color: Black/black

Special Feature: He has a pendant shaped as tear drop made of shuseki stone

Characteristic: Calm, patient

Ability: good observation, making strategy and plan, chakra control, weapon

Special power: He can use the pendant as pendulum, a bloodline that allow him to be 'one' with inanimate things after he put some seals only people with his bloodline can use

Occupation: **The Head of Strategy and Warfare**

Further info: He can use the pendant to pinpoint something when he concentrates, he can channel chakra on inanimate things

Appearance: Chapter 12, 14, 18

_**Yoshino (Yutsu) Narue**-1st generation_

Age/status: 45 years old/married-1 child

Hair/eyes color: Black/dark green

Special feature: Like Raido, she also wears a fang shaped earring

Characteristic: Talkative, calculating

Ability: genjutsu and chakra control, planning

Special power: Yutsu family bloodline (see Yutsu Raido)

Occupation: **The Head of Foreign Affair**

Further info: She is acting as ambassador or liaison of Soragakure. It is she who organizes the buying of lands from many countries under the Council' decision after Ueki and Hyouga proposed the idea. She's Raido's older sister. She has a telepathic link with her brother.

Appearance:Chapter 12,14, 18, 19

**NARUTO'S FAMILY:**

_Kazama (Shinraku) Yui_-2nd generation

Age/status: 39 years old/married-3 children

Hair/eyes color: Red/always changing (rainbow)

Special Feature: Her rainbow eyes

Characteristic: Calm, composed, but can be dangerous when angry

Ability: genjutsu, strategy, medic jutsu

Special power: she has a bloodline with the ability to absorb nature's chakra for her own

Rank: medic-nin

Futher info: She needs to convert nature's chakra continuously so she won't be weakened because her chakra reserve is small. Ever since she is together with Naruto, he has become her source of chakra. This bloodline only shows up in girls. For the man born in this family they won't be affected by this bloodline. She's Haruki Yugo's cousin.

Appearance:Chapter 12, 19

_Kazama Aiko_-3rd generation

Age/status: 16 years old/single

Hair/eyes color: Red/always changing (although it is usually blue))

Special feature: Her rainbow eyes (only when she uses her mother's bloodline)

Characteristic: Energetic, like challenges and training

Ability: spying, strategy, taijutsu, ninjutsu, genjutsu

Special power: Naruto's bloodline, Yui's bloodline, she can see in the dark just like her father, though she can't see aura, better regeneration than normal shinobi

Rank: jounin

Further info: she can convert nature's chakra like her mother, but as a daughter of Naruto she has big chakra reserve, so she doesn't need to feed off from nature's chakra, but she has the ability. She received a weak sign of Naruto's bloodline (she can only control the wind around a meter from her body), but it's still quite useful to have for defense and offensive attack. She is an expert in using twin steel fan weapon that can enhance her bloodline ability, especially because of the shuseki stone on the handles and when she used the fans, it's like she's dancing

Appearance: Chapter 12,19, 20

_Kazama Shugo_-3rd generation

Age/status: 12 years old/single

Hair/eyes color: Blonde/silvery blue

Special feature: He likes to wear black clothes, he wears his hitae-ate around his waist as a belt, looks exactly like Naruto when he was a kid

Characteristic: more energetic than Naruto, but not loud, like to train

Ability: taijutsu, traps and ninjutsu, average at genjutsu

Special power: He inherits Kazama bloodline, better regeneration than normal shinobi, can see in the dark and aura

Rank: Genin

Further info: Shugo's dream is to be the next leader of Soragakure though he knows that it will be a long time or even unreachable since Naruto can live for hundreds of years

Appearance: Chapter 12, 13, 17, 18, 19, 20

_Kazama Mamoru_-3rd generation

Age/status: 4 years old/single (of course he is, he's still a kid)

Hair/eyes color: Red/silvery blue

Special feature: a pair of black wristbands on his wrists and a choker on his neck, looks like Naruto but leaner due to his mother's gene

Characteristic: energetic, talkative, curious (well, he's a kid)

Ability: taijutsu, speed, great chakra control (haven't yet to learn ninjutsu or genjutsu)

Special power: Kazama bloodline, can see in the dark and aura

Rank: student of Sora academy

Further info: The wristbands and choker (layered by seals and a shuseki stone each) was made to control his bloodline (he already shows greater potential than even Shugo or Naruto, but since he's a kid it will be dangerous if it isn't controlled carefully). The only one who can open them is Naruto, but Mamoru will be given the control to open them after he is deemed fit.

Appearance:Chapter 12, 19, 20

**NARUTO'S PERSONAL GUARDS (and sometimes his children' tutors):**

_Kaguya Kimamaro_-1st generation

Age/status: 34 years old /married-3 children

Hair/eyes color: White/green

Special feature: 2 red dots on his forehead

Characteristic: calm, composed

Ability: taijutsu and ninjutsu

Special power: has a bloodline that enables him to use his own bones as weapon

Further info: He's very loyal to Naruto who he thought as his saviour and will do anything for him just like he did for Orochimaru in canon

Appearance:Chapter 9, 13-17, 19, 20

_Kazeru Ginji_-1st generation

Age/status: 32 years old/single

Hair/eyes color: Reddish orange/blue

Special Feature: He always wears a wristband on his left hand

Characteristic: wild temper, energetic, talkative, impatient

Ability: brute strength, taijutsu

Special power: None

Further info: The wristband is used to hide scars made of suicide attempts when he was a kid. His father was a drunkard and always abused him while his mother didn't care about him. Naruto saved him from his 9th suicide attempt and dealt with his family. Like Kimimaro, he's also very loyal to Naruto. He's irritated by his comrade, Shouji, who likes to mock him.

Appearance:Chapter 13-17, 19

_Yamiboshi Agiru_-2nd generation

Age/status: 25 years old/single

Hair/eyes color: Gray/black

Special feature: He likes to wear bandana

Characteristic: Talkative, patient

Ability: good at medic jutsu, and taijutsu, great chakra control

Special power: a bloodline with regeneration ability

Further info: he's related with Yakushi Kabuto. He can channel chakra to his bandana and make it as sharp as sword

Appearance:Chapter

_Kanada Shigeru_-3rd generation

Age/status: 23 years old/engaged

Hair/eyes color: Dark blue/black

Special feature: He likes to wear white trench coat

Characteristic: energetic, talkative, he likes to make dry humor that makes others become speechless

Ability: Ninjutsu

Special power: None

Further info: thankfully he isn't as bad as Maito Gai or Rock Lee, plus he has a face that can back him off, unlike those 2 fuzzy eyebrow-ed shinobi.

Appearance:Chapter

_Takiko Mizuki_-1st generation

Age/status: 27 years old/single

Hair/eyes color: Dark blue/blue

Special feature: her eyes are crystalline blue with no pupil

Characteristic: cold, silent

Ability: speed, mizu jutsu, taijutsu

Special power:: an ability received from her tenant to absorb water from people with mere touch (and since most part of human's body is composed of water, well…), she can also create water serpent that will do her biding and breathes underwater

Further info: she's a jinchuuriki of Suijinra, a three tailed serpent (OC). Naruto saved her from being killed by Mist shinobi under Mizukage's order who thought that she was of no use. She was 11 years old right then. For her, Naruto is her saviour. She's jealous of Yui, but loves Naruto's children as if they are her own.

Appearance: Chapter 15, 16, 19

_Yakimaru Shouji_-2rd generation

Age/status: 25 years old/dating

Hair/eyes color: Dark brown/brown

Special feature: his hitae-ate is used to cover his eyes (except when he's with his girlfriend).

Characteristic: responsible, calm, he likes to tease Ginji, his comrade, because he's easily angered

Ability: genjutsu, kenjutsu, great chakra control

Special power: his bloodline allows him to manipulate the chakra inside his body. He can cut off his chakra from some points and redirected his chakra to other place as he wish

Further info: His hitae-ate is used for training to make his other senses better.

Appearance:Chapter 15, 16, 19, 20

**WAVE GOVERNMENT:**

_Rokuonji (Wave's daimyou)_

Age:

Hair/eyes:

Appearance:Chapter 11

_Hida Ashige(Daimyou's advisor)_

Age: 37 years old

Hair/Eyes color: Brown/dark blue

Specialization: Civil rights, health, culture

Appearance: Chapter 11

_Shigaku Sai_

Age: 54 years old

Hair/Eyes color: Brown/brown

Specialization: Finance

Appearance: Chapter 11

_Kirihara Jinbei_

Age: 65 years old

Hair/eyes color: Graying black hair/ black

Specialization: military, security

Appearance: Chapter 11

**GENINS:**

_Kaguya Yukito_-2nd generation

Age/ status:12 years old

Hair/eyes: white/green

Special Feature:

Characteristic: a bit brash and loud, easily excited, but is also a pessimist on some things

Ability:taijutsu

Special power: Kaguya's bloodline as bone user

Further into: He's Kimimaro 2nd child and is often called as Yu-kun. He's the most energetic child Kimimaro has.

Appearance:Chapter 17-20

_Yashiharu Miki_-2nd generation

Age/status: 11 years old

Hair/eyes: red/ brown

Special Feature:

Characteristic:

Ability:

Special power: none

Further info: she's the daughter of Yashiharu Hana

Appearance:Chapter 17, 18

_Shinku Ryoga_-2nd generation

Age/status: 11years old

Hair/eyes: brown/ blue

Special feature: he always wears his silver glasses, which one of its optics can be used as visor (kinda like what Conan in Detective Conan has, though the glasses type is different)

Characteristic: calm, geeky

Ability:genjutsu and above average ninjutsu, also a genius in technology department

Special power: none

Further info: Shinku Hyuga's (the head of seal research) son. His idol is Haruki Yugo. He's a techno geek just like his older best friend, Netto. A genius on his own way. Sucks at close-combat. He's more of a support ninja, rather than offensive ninja. He has the role of data gatherer, the one who'll pinpoint opponent's weak points and tell his comrades the best strategy to accomplish mission.

Appearance:Chapter 17-20

_Kazuhara Towa_-2nd generation

Age/status: 10 years old

Hair/eyes: blue/

Special feature:

Characteristic:

Ability:

Special power:

Further info: the male of the twin actually acts more feminine than his sister and has longer hair that goes past his shoulder, untied.

Appearance:Chapter 17, 18, 20

_Kazuhara Noa_-2nd generation

Age/status: 10 years old

Hair/eyes: blue/

Special feature:

Characteristic:

Ability:

Special power:

Further info: the female twin, but is a tomboy. She's the younger one and the one with the short hair.

Appearance:Chapter 17, 18, 20

_Aihara Netto_-3rd generation

Age/status: 13 years old

Hair/eyes: blond/

Special feature: he usually wear black leather 'dog' chain (just what do people call it? Choker? Necklace? Chain? If you want to know, it's kinda like the one Yugi in YuGiOh wears)

Characteristic:

Ability:

Special power:

Further info:

Appearance: Chapter 17

_Yuzu Soi_-3rd generation (medic-nin)

Age/status:

Hair/eyes: dirty blonde/brown

Appearance: Chapter 20

_Shirei Amemi_-2d generation

Kimishima Kouji-3rd generation

Hazeda Kazuhi-1st generation

Age/status: 13 years old

Hair/eyes: red/green

Special feature:

Characteristic: loud, energetic, temperamental (act first then think)

Ability: taijutsu and ninjutsu

Special power:

Further info: he dislikes Shugo and thinks himself as his rival. The real reason is that he envied him, because he has such a perfect life (at least that is what Hazeda thinks). He practically worships Naruto because he was the one who brought him in to the village when he was only 9 years old and almost died because of starvation

Appearance:Chapter 17

Nakajima Suo-2nd generation (Nakajima Yuu's brother) black hair done in ponytail/black eyes/ sword user

Appearance: Chapter 20

Soryuu Akira-3rd generation, shoulder length red hair/blue eyes/good at weapons and traps/tactician

Appearance: Chapter 20

Umogata Momoka-3rd generation, red hair done in twin buns/purple eyes/genjutsu and ninjutsu

Appearance: Chapter 20

**OTHERS:**

_Yashiharu Hana_-1st generation

Age/status: 48 years old/married-2 children

Hair/eyes: Red/brown

Special feature: She always bring medicine and potion with her

Characteristic: motherly, but can be stern when needed

Ability: great at chakra control and medic jutsu

Special power: none

Rank/occupation: chuunin/medic-nin and sometime academy teacher

Further info: She was the one who act as the caretaker when Naruto first went to demon realm years ago

Appearance:Chapter

_Kuroda Haijin-2nd generation_

Age/status: 25 years old/engaged

Hair/eyes: Brown/amber

Special feature: a small clawed scar on his cheek

Characteristic: playful, patient

Ability: good in taking care animals

Special power: None

Rank/occupation: Non-shinobi/sharn'gotti care taker

Further info: he isn't a shinobi, but that doesn't mean he isn't important. He is in charge of the wild sharn'gotti.

Appearance:Chapter

_Rakurai Shinei_-2nd generation

Age/status: 29 years old/dating

Hair/eyes: Black/brown (or blue with silver slitted iris when his bloodline is activated)

Special feature:

Characteristic: no nonsense and like to state the obvious

Ability: genjutsu

Special power: the same bloodline like his brother: X-ray vision.

Rank/occupation: elite jounin/investigation squad

Further info: He's the brother of Rakurai Shinjo (the head of Infiltration and Assasination).

Appearance:Chapter

_Kushida Haruhiko (Haru)_-1st generation

Age/status: 25 years old/single

Hair/eyes: black/green

Special feature: his fooling smile

Characteristic: proud, he has warm smile (that will fool everyone but the Sky ninjas), often make sarcastic comment

Ability: water jutsu, above average kenjutsu

Special power: the same bloodline with Haku

Rank/occupation: anbu/assassination squad

Further info: he's Haku's cousin. His mother is Haku's mother's older sister. He's Ginji's close friend

Appearance:Chapter 15-17, 19

_Kudoshi Akito_-1st generation

Age/status: 46 years old/married-2 children

Hair/eyes: dark brown/brown

Special feature: he always bring his sketch book and drawing tools on a small black scroll with him when he goes somewhere else

Characteristic: a bit workalcoholic and like to solve conflict with brain instead of brawl

Ability: creative mind and knowledge of how to use ninja techniques to create a building with much better security. He's also able to use ninja techniques without much difficulty unlike other civilians

Special power: he's actually a distant relative of Uchiha and has the watered down version of sharingan

Rank/occupation: non-shinobi/Sky's head of architect

Further info: he's the one behind the creation of Sky bases all over the continent. He didn't spent much time in Aoigetsukai as he was needed somewhere else and so there wasn't much difference with his age before he joined Soragakure. His time spent on the 3rd world was for planning and designing to make sure he had time to make the bases' ground plans. Although he has bloodline limit (no matter how watered-down it might be) he chose a non-shinobi life.

Appearance:Chapter 17, 18

Yazuno Kazeki-2nd generation (haven't make any appearance yet)

Age/status: 19 years old/single (Though he hopes to rectify it soon)

Hair/eyes: Silver/light blue

Special feature: if his silver hair isn't an indication, I don't know what else. He also wears a white glove with shuseki stone on it, but he only wears it on his right hand

Characteristic: think first before acting (it is a characteristic that he hates when dealing with (Kazama) Aiko) and like to solve his problem by himself (something that is quite annoying for the young girl, as she likes to have him open up more)

Ability: medic jutsu, taijutsu

Special power: sending electrical pulses to nerves (bloodline)

Rank/occupation: jounin/poison and potion research plus medic squad

Further info: He's often teamed up with Aiko. Kazeki or Kaze-nii as he usually called by Naruto's daughter was the one who gave her the twin steel fans (normal size) that she occasionally used in mission or training for her 14th birthday. He's the Head of Medical Treatment's, Kikumi Shiho's 2nd nephew.

Appearance: Chapter

Hamada Yusaku- 2nd generation

Age/status:

Hair/eyes:

Rank/occupation:jounin/genin teacher

Further info: He was the ninja who told the genins about their compulsory mission

Appearance:Chapter 17

Nakajima Yuu-2nd generation-Shugo's taijutsu jounin

**PEOPLE WHO ARE MENTIONED BUT WILL NEVER MAKE ANY APPEARANCE IN THE FIC:**

Kushida Amemi (OC): Haku's deceased mother

**BIJUU** (in this fic a bijuu is a demon who has the power bestowed upon it that make it able to go into shinobi realm, passing through the barrier in the border of the demon and shinobi worlds without heavy consequence. This power increases/boost the demon's potential and power. It doesn't mean that being a bijuu make the demon the strongest one)

One Tail-_Shukaku_

Info: Raccoon (tanuki) demon. Crazy and bloodthirsty. Not really smart, unfortunately (for the raccoon, of course). He's an A-class demon.

Host: Sabaku no Gaara

Two Tails-Nekomata

Info: Cat bijuu.

Host: Yugito from Kumo

Three Tails-_Suijinra_ (OC)

Info: Water serpent demon. The calmest of all bijous and very smart. S-class demon.

Host: Takiko Mizuki

Nine Tails-Kyuubi/_Soramaru_ (not an OC but the name is made by myself)

Info: Fox demon. Cunning. He's an X-class demon

Host: Uzumaki/Kazama Naruto/Sora

**DEMON TYPE:**

_Byou-_ overall E-class demon

Type: ape demon

Feature: have white furs

Characteristic: these demons are social

Further info: their furs are good to make warm blanket or clothes

_Rag'Sheit-_overall D-class demon

Type: humanoid demon

Feature: there are blades on their arms, have black skin

Characteristic: these demons are social

Further info: they liked to eat demon cubs, and kits. They are good at hiding, hunting in groups and have good teamwork

_Rheist- _overall E-class demon

Type: winged lizard demon

Feature: the tongue is split into 3 parts

Characteristic: these demons are solitary

Further info: it has acid saliva

_Sairei- _overall E-class demon

Type: demon bird

Feature: it has bone-like tail

Characteristic: these demons are social

Further info: they are nesting in the rocks in Shibakusa field

_Sharn'gotti_-overall E to C class demon (with the chicks being the E-rank demons)

Type: fire demon bird

Feature: the youngsters' feathers are grayish black, adults have grayish white feathers (special for Kielle and her children, their feathers are covered by whitish blue fire)

Characteristic: these demons are social

Further info: Kielle's chidren are B-class demon, while she herself is A-class in the border of S-class demon

_Threon-_overall E-class demon

Type: one-horned goat demon

Feature: it has tough skin. It has white-scaled snake-like tail

Characteristic: these demons are social

Further info: Its powdered horn can be used in some medicines. Some more intellectual humanoid demons have bred them in captivity for their horns. Sky shinobis often hunt these particular demons in their trials.

**DEMON**

Kielle

Appearance:Chapter 9, 13

Sheil're (Kielle's son)

Appearance:Chapter 13, 14

Katarie (Yukito's sharn)

Appearance: Chapter 9

The situation in Soragakure is a bit…awkward because of the citizen's ages. Children can be the same ages as their parents because of the time difference between 2 realms. But aside from that everything is fine. If people from other places see them, there is no doubt they would be confused to see, say…32 years old man says 'mother' to a 35 years old woman. But Hidden Sky' citizens are already adapting with that condition.

As you can see, there are many OC characters, so this list would be important for you (and me). If there are more OC characters I think you should now, I will update this list…unless I get lazy…


	14. Chapter Thirteen

Disclaimer: I'm sure that as you have known I don't own the real Naruto story, whether it is anime or manga, but I do own this fan version story of Naruto.

Author's Note: I have read Half Blood Prince. I got it from my boarding house's friend. She downloaded it from internet. I have finished all chapters after reading it for hours for a couple of time (I decided not to read all of them at once because my eyes hurts after staring to the computer screen after hours of reading, playing game, and writing) And I felt sleepy and somehow I was reluctant to read the parts where there are HarryGinny. Obviously I'm no fan of that pairing though I don't have anything against Ginny herself. I just don't like HarryGinny pairing for some reasons I won't indulge here.

I have looked into computer so long that my eyes, and legs hurt. And it was when I was having this headache when I read Half Blood Prince. _Sigh!_ Anyway I should stop saying about Harry because it is Naruto fanfiction…

"…" talking

/…/ Naruto is talking to Kyuubi inside his mind just for you to know, if I add '?' or '!' it (usually) won't show behind '/' (not my fault, there is a whack in program)

Ctrl+B+I **_Bold and Italic_**, Kyuubi is talking to Naruto (though if it doesn't show, once again, it isn't my fault)

Chapter Thirteen

Black winged birds with bone tails were flying on the dark red sky. Strong winds ruffled their black feathers and red eyes were scanning the ground as the birds looked for their unfortunate preys. It was the usual occurrence in the demon realm. But a crackling dark portal suddenly opened up in the sky, making the demon birds squawked and flew away from what seemed like a black hole.

From the portal a figure emerged and quickly fell down to the ground below. Blonde hair was blown by the wind as he plunged into what appeared to be his would-be-death at the end of the jagged rocks below. Bright blue eyes tinted by silver inspected the ground below, unreadable expression was etched on the figure's face, not really caring that he would plummet and crash with the sharp rocks jutting from the ground in the grass field soon, if he didn't do anything about it.

The figure waited until 20 meter above the ground before he somehow controlled the movement of the air around him. Wind picked up from the ground and circled him harshly, even though in the center of what looked like to be a small tornado was calm. As the man neared the surface of the ground, the wind left his body to make a pincushion for his descend. The tip of one of the black shinobi sandals touched the grassy ground gently, followed by the other. The wind died down, leaving the figure stood on the field alone undisturbed without any indication that he had just fallen down hundred meters from the sky above.

**_We're in Shibakusa Field. It's one of the few grassy fields in demon realm. You see that jagged rocks that looked like animal fangs sprout from the ground?_** Naruto looked around him and nodded.**_ It differs this field from the other grassy fields. Those rocks are used by E-class demon bird, Sairei, the black birds you see up in the sky, for breeding. If you look the rocks closer, you'll be able to see numerous holes on the rocks. It was dug by the demon birds with their strong beaks. They use the holes to lay their blackish egg. Mind you even if they are weak in comparison than D-class demon, if they attack together, it is quite a nuisance even for a powerful demon like me, though they will be a mere annoyance to me just like flies with humans. They are swift and air is their home and of course like most demons in this realm, they are carnivores though they prefer small preys. Thankfully they were obviously scared away by the portal. We should leave this field soon, no reason taking risk being attacked by these birds for disturbing their nest of if they think you'll be a fine meal._**

/Uh…where to/ Naruto asked not knowing the direction of Kielles' mountain, Hikoushu, from this place.

**_We're on the North East side of Hikoushu. Go to South West! _** Kyuubi commanded. **_It shouldn't be long with your current speed and the short distance. _**The leader of Soragakure nodded.

**A while later**

**Why hello, little one. You're back** The demon lady over sharn'gotti clan greeted Naruto. She has fired away to the border of her territory when she felt her friend's presence just as her friend's vessel passed the detection shield.

"Hello, Kielle-san," Naruto smiled eagerly. One of the very few things he missed being away from demon realm was Kielle and he always looked forward to meet her. He had brought his children once to meet the great demon and he could tell that they were awed by her. Too bad he couldn't bring his wife because even with the fox seal on her arm, she wouldn't be able to stand for over 10 hours in this realm, so Naruto didn't see the point to bring her when they could very well end on places days away from Kielle's location.

She has met with some E and D-class demons on some trials held in demon realm to test Soragakure's jounin though, just like many other shinobis in Soragakure did in their trials. His children in the other hand, could stay in demon realm for 3 weeks, though they never stayed in this realm over a week because Naruto didn't want them to stay in this realm alone while he had to go back to the third realm to govern his village (time in demon realm equal time in shinobi realm, which mean since 1 year in shinobi realm equals 20 years of third realm time, it is the same with demon realm timeline) and since Naruto is the leader of Sora he couldn't leave them for more than half a year unsupervised) "Yes, I'm back and I have news for you," the blonde man grinned.

**And what is that exactly?** The she-bird demon peered curiously.

"Soragakure will be officially founded soon!" The two chatted for hours before Naruto called it off and told her that he needed more sharn'gotti eggs and a few adults, shusekis and small or medium sized hikousekis. The huge bird complied. She told him that she had expected it and had prepared for his requests long before he asked it. "By the way, is there anything interesting going on demon realm while I wasn't here?"

**Well, not really. It's the usual bloodsheds among the demons…oh yes, I almost forgot, Kirai has become more obnoxious than ever, demanding me to bow down before him because as Soramaru's replacement, I ought to obey him. The nerve of that piece of scum! He seemed to think that I was Soramaru's servant. I roasted his butt, he won't be able to sit for months to come** she said cheekily, her silver eyes glinted as she remembered the event as clear as day.

"Well, ouch!" Naruto's hand unconsciously rubbed his bottom.

**_Glad to hear that _**Kyuubi piped in. **_If only I can get back my body back, I will kick his butt and send his remains to the fields where scavenger demons are in abundance. I'm sure they will appreciate to get more meals. _**The three were imagining hundreds of D or E-class demons clamoring Kirai's remains and grinned happily as they laughed together.

Hours later, Naruto exited the realm and entered the third realm. He noticed that he was only 30 minutes at tops from his village near Tenshu nest, a native animal in this realm. He was lucky that he didn't drop on top of the nest, because if it did it would be a trouble and he really didn't want to fight them if it wasn't necessary. The only times Sky shinobis hunted Tenshu were when they needed their body parts for various medicines.

Naruto returned to the sky village in the air above via riding a sharn'gotti. He deposited the smaller hikouseki around the flying main island. The flying stones settled on the air just like the others that were already there. He let the adult demon birds flew around the village. They would undoubtly will make their nests on the smaller hikousekis later when they were tired flying. Passing Kuroda Haijin on his way, a 25 years old man with brown hair and amber eyes, one of the men in charge of taking care sharn'gotti eggs and newborns, Naruto gave him the eggs to be stored on the safe house to be taken care of.

Naruto looked up when he saw shadow looming over him. Smiling, the man looked up to see a smaller version of Kielle hovering above him. It was one of Kielle's own children, Sheil're, a male sharn'gotti. Sheil're had a sense of adventure much more than his brother and sisters and asked Kielle to be allowed to join Naruto. The demon lady agreed after a fair bit of pleadings (and being shown puppy eyes numerous times). Since he was much stronger than normal sharn'gotti, it was harder for Soramaru to bring him out of demon realm safely. It was a good thing that they brought him to third realm instead of shinobi realm, because frankly the ninetails doubted that he could pull him off in one piece even with his power as one of the 9 chosen demons that had power to pass through the barrier to shinobi realm.

Naruto had to give the bird a third of his blood so he could pass to third realm though and the shinobi was a bit dizzy for some time until kyuubi managed to restore his blood by speeding the blood creating process.

Nowadays, Sheil're passed his time hunting over the creatures roaming in third realm _(AN: I seriously need to rename 'third realm' into something cooler, easier and faster to say) _and acted as the leader of the sharn'gotti group in this realm.

Naruto looked into the frosty crystalline blue eyes that differed Sheil're from Kielle, beside their size difference of course. "Hello, Sheil're, this is a good day, isn't it?"

**Indeed it is. So you have returned from demon realm, how's mother?**

"Same as usual, though she was a bit giddy these days because she has just roasted Kirai's butt when he annoyed her so much."

**Oh, now that's good news. Too bad I can't see it for myself, I wouldn't mind to assist a thing or two. Your replacement is really annoying as hell, Soramaru-san. **

**_You don't need to tell me about that, _**the demon lord sniffed indignantly. **_I'm still a bit annoyed over the fact the clan has decided to replace me with that bloke! I mean, come on, I know that his power is above average, mind you he's nothing compared to me, _**Naruto nodded in reassurance, followed by Sheil're. **_But with his loose mouth he'll end up angering many other demon lords that someday one or more than one demon lord feels enough is enough and decide to bring war to fox clan's doorstep because of his stupidity._**

**I take it, the fox clan doesn't know that you are alive yet?**

_**Oh, the clan knows I'm alive. Afterall if I was dead, there would be another demon with the power to cross the barrier. But they have chosen Kirai as my replacement by then. As you know, a demon lord seat is never vacant for over 5 years, so they have to pick someone (somefox?) as their new leader.**_

**It was unfortunate…**

_**Yes, it is**_

"By the way, Sheil're, will you up to it when we cross over to shinobi realm?" the demon bird paled. It was bad enough when they crossed over from demon realm to third realm in the first time and now he had to remind him about it?

**Er…not really**

_**Don't worry, it won't be as bad as the first time. You have Naruto's blood on your vein and you will have my protection.**_

**Really? **The demon bird perked up.

_**Yes, **_Naruto and Soramaru could hear Sheil're sighed in relief.

**Thanks for the small favour. I have a bad case of headache and stomachache for a week when we pass the barrier to this realm**

Naruto chuckled before he left Kielle's son and walked toward Raguna tower. The tower was the home of Weapon and Technology Department and it was located in the shinobi complex.

"Where is Yugo?" he asked a man in the receptionist desk.

"He's inside his office, Naruto-sama," the brown haired man smiled as he saw the leader of Sky in front of him. Naruto nodded and went upstairs. He passed busy engineers on his way and entered Yugo's office, but found Yugo wasn't there. Rolling his eyes, he closed the door and walked toward the room he was sure that Yugo was in.

First Lab. It was the lab used by the head of Weapon and Technology Development Department to test new gadgets.

He knocked the door twice before entering. There in the corner of the room was Yugo, wearing a dark blue visor, covering his eyes. Naruto's wife's cousin looked up from the gadget he was working on. He tapped something on his right ear and the visor disappeared.

Naruto threw a small scroll which was caught deftly by the younger shinobi. The Head Engineer eyed the scroll on his hand.

"That's the shuseki stones I promised you," Naruto said as he walked toward him. Yugo nodded as he put the scroll on his desk. "So, any interesting news?"

Yugo nodded before he opened one of his drawers. He took a small gadget and handed it to his superior. "New and improved Ear Clip. I have given the same to the others. Range is 20 km, beyond that the sound will be harder to be distinguished," Naruto put the Ear Clip on his left ear. Tapping it twice, he concentrated on Hyouga. The fox seal on his left arm warmed for a moment.

"Yo, Hyouga," Naruto spoke cheerfully. "Yes, it's me, Naruto," he paused. "No, it's nothing. I just tested Yugo's improved gadget. Where are you?" pause. "Kaishu Field? What are you doing there?" pause. "Shiho asked you to hunt them? Oh, okay. Naruto's out," he tapped the Ear Clip twice again. "Good work, Yugo. Can I have this?" the man nodded. "Thanks. See you," Naruto exited the lab, leaving him alone to work alone once again.

**5 days after Sandaime dispatched Kakashi's and Gai's team**

"So, Wave country is oppressed by Gatou?" Tenten asked as she twirled her kunai. A scowl was plastered on her face.

"Yes, and we don't have enough money to pay for B-rank mission. Even our daimyou didn't have money," the bridge builder spoke dejectedly. "Please you have to help us! My daughter and grandchild will cry if I die," he tried a guilt trip method.

Kakashi and Gai stared at each other in silence. They wondered if there was some connection about Gatou and Sky group. Neji eyed the 2 jounins carefully, feeling that there was something they left out. The silver haired jounin turned to the pleading old man with a fake sigh.

"Alright, we'll continue this mission," Tazuna's face brightened. "But when the bridge is finished you have to pay for B-rank mission."

"Yes, yes, of course," Tazuna said hastily, afraid that they would change their mind.

The group continued their journey and in a day they arrived at the spot where a fisherman was supposedly to smuggle them to Wave country.

**With Naruto,co**

"Alright guys, this is the moment we have waited for so long!" Naruto stood at the center of the main hikouseki, an oracle. There inside the oracle was an unknown black metal basin with silvery liquid on it.

All Head of Departments were circling him, some were obviously showing giddiness, while the others kept their faces impassice, though Naruto knew that all of them have waited for this. His family stood behind him, supporting him. Outside the oracle, more than a thousand of his people stood, waiting him to perform the seal ritual in silent excitement, even if it was nighttime.

Naruto slitted his wrist open with a black stiletto made from the same substance like the basin. The red shuseki in the center of the blade, creating a line that divided the black metal into 2 parts and the other oval stone on its hilt were glowing as the silvery red blood poured on it. Silver runes of seal on the stiletto glowed unearthly. A drop of Soramaru's vessel's blood on the liquid made the whole content of metal basin glowed. Black runes seals formed a circle on the stone basin. The process continued until the whole floor, 3 meters around the basin, was full of black runes. A red shape emerged from the liquid slowly as it floated over the liquid and then hovered above the basin, in front of Naruto's chest. It was revealed that the shape was actually a 30 cm shuseki ball. Inside the red transparent ball, lay one of Kielle's burning feathers.

"Hikouseki's navigator," Naruto's youngest son breathed in awe.

"Here we go," Naruto breathed as everyone's fox seal glowed. The shuseki crystals around the oracle lit up. The ground shook a bit as each of shuseki tower on Main Island and the other big islands glowed, illuminating the dark sky with its exotic red light. Everyone held their breath.

Kyuubi worked on his part as he sent his power through Naruto. Red chakra flowed freely, dancing around the leader of Soragakure. Silver circle runes appeared on the sky above as if an invisible hand writing it. The sharn'gotti kept their beaks close as they watched it warily. They nestled on the smaller hikouseki, none of them flew in the sky. A small dark portal formed on the center of the rune circle before it enlarged until it enveloped the whole sky above Soragakure.

Naruto swallowed. He had to pour all of his concentration so they would end up above Sangoshou Island. They have planted a shuseki tower there to direct their destination. Naruto didn't know why he could enter shinobi realm on the right place if he concentrated enough, but he still wasn't able to do the same with demon realm. Yugo suggested to him that it was due to the demon realm had more chaotic energy than shinobi realm, but he couldn't give a proof, so Naruto (and the others) had to hold their judgements until someone could prove the theory.

Naruto smeared the blood on his now healed wrist on the navigator. The feather's burning flame covered the whole ball and it hovered down to touch the silvery liquid below. The whitish blue flame spread on the liquid making it look like a brightly lit up torch.

Naruto closed his eyes and touched the burning ball without a flinch. The ground shook harder before it stopped shaking completely, but all people could feel that the hikousekis were moving into the dark portal above. Most of the adults had their shares of realm jumping for their trials, but some children were frightened and had to be reassured by their parents.

The dark portal enveloped the whole Soragakure and it blinked out of existence, taking the village with it.

**Wave country**

Kimimaro and Ginji stared at the sky above. The hyper reddish orange haired shinobi was barely able to conceal his excitement. Behind them 3 dozens of their comrades held their breathes as they felt their fox seals glowed in the dark. They looked up to the sky and noticed a faint trace of silver circle appeared on the sky for a second before it was replaced by a dark hole that seemed to suck out everything in the sky. Birds were squawking in fear and surprise as they flew away from their nests in the forest.

The Sky shinobi shivered in excitement as they felt Kyuubi's chakra filled the whole sky. They were sure that any chakra sensitive or battle-hardened shinobi in Gatou's base in Koori Island would notice the malicious yet comforting chakra (only for Sky shinobi).

All Sky shinobis put their night binoculars close to their eyes. Some of them even took a snapshot using their cameras for documenter.

They could see the bottom of one of the huge sized hikouseki emerged from the portal followed by countless other floating rocks.

"Hey, that's Hiyokuseki!" one of the shinobi pointed out at the first incoming hikouseki.

Hiyokuseki was one of the hovering islands on Soragakure. It was used for farming. It was one of their 5 agricultural floating islands that sustained Sky citizens' daily food.

"Yes, and that's Shuyouseki!" another shinobi pointed out excitedly at the last incoming hikouseki. The main island floating above the rest of medium to big sized hikousekis. Smaller floating rocks used by sharn'gotti littered around them.

"Do you know how Naruto-sama will hide Soragakure from prying eyes? Not that I complain, but everyone will see our village clearly in the sky in plain daylight and we won't be a hidden village if Sky village is easily seen by anyone," Kazeru Ginji asked his companion. "Huh? What the?" the wild tempered shinobi pressed the binocular to his blue eyes.

Thanks to their binoculars every Sky shinobi could see the cloud started to form around Soragakure. They watched slack-jawed as in 5 minutes the whole sky around their village was enveloped by thick clouds.

"That's your answer," Kimimaro replied at last, as he put down his black binocular with a smile.

"…Hell yeah," Ginji murmured in awe.

In the Wave country, an utterly defeated Zabuza, a concerned Haku, a chakra exhausted Kakashi, Gai, Hanabi (AN: she's Hinata's sister incase you don't know), Neji, and Sasuke went alert when they felt the massive chakra a moment ago before it completely disappeared. All of them were wary and none of them got any good sleep that night.

The Sky citizens spent their night partying like crazy.

That night, no one hasn't yet realized that the balance of power in the shinobi realm has shifted.

TBC…

At least chap 13 is over. I have difficulties writing the ritual part.

About Hanabi, I make her as part of team 7. Since Naruto isn't in Konoha, Hinata doesn't have someone to courage her and she succumbs to her shyness more than canon (Sorry for Hinata fans out there). The main family is disappointed and planning to make Hanabi as the heir.

Why did I make Naruto has children?

Because I need someone to be the focus point in chuunin exam and I can't have Naruto do it since he's not a genin and thus won't be able to join the exam. (Yes, it's a spoiler that Soragakure will obviously enter chuunin exam). Beside since Shugo resembles Naruto very much it will create a confusion and suspicion among Konoha shinobi rank. And won't it be interesting to know their reaction to his existence?

Review, please!


	15. Chapter Fourteen

Disclaimer: The one who owns Naruto characters is Kishimoto Masashi, not me. I owns all of the OCs though.

Author's Note: does anyone ever realize that I'm actually using Japanese to name some things (not the people's names alright because I make them up without looking at dictionary with the exception of Naruto's children's names)? I don't know if it is allowed or not officially but usually in this fic I used 2 words to form a new word, such as hikouseki, shuseki, Iwaseki, Shibakusa, hiyokuseki, shuyouseki, amefuru and maybe some other things. Ex: Hiyoku means fertile (at least it means fertile in the dictionary) and I named one of the farming island hiyokuseki. Shuyou from shuyouseki on the other hand means main or major, most important. Sometimes it drove me nuts to find the right term and it's one of the reason I need time to write this fic. Of course I did not use Japanese to all. Some of the cities name are meaningless.

I will have final exam next week for 2 weeks and after that holiday for a month. Unfortunately I won't be able to connect with internet during my holiday and there is no computer in my parents' house, so don't expect any update.

HOWEEE! My computer ALMOST crashed! Thank God it didn't. I haven't backed up all of my data, you know? What did I do? Er… I use Norton Utilities Integrator and Speed disk to optimize my computer and there was fatal error when it sorted disk D. The computer then hanged and I reset it. And there is a writing there saying that my primary hard motherboard is error. Imagine my shock and horror. I entered setup or whatever it was and because I didn't know a thing at all I exited setup, only to have a writing to reboot my CPU. What the heck? I reset 2 more times and the results were the same. I switched it off. I gave up, planning to fix my CPU when I forgot that there was still a borrowed disk in my VCD room. I started it again and voila, I could use my computer again. Phiuh! Next time, I won't play with computer again.

There was a fair chance that you won't see this chapter because of that. I have written 6 pages of this chapter when it happened.

**Bold **and Underline (Ctrl+B+U) Sheil're talking

/…/ Radio transmission

"…" talking normally

Chapter Fourteen 

Negishi Hyouga, the head of Strategy and Warfare of Soragakure laid out the map of Wave on the round wooden table. The other head of departments and Naruto carefully examined the map as they surrounded it. Hyouga pointed at an island near Sangoshou Island, the very island currently below Soragakure.

"This is Koori island, the place where Gatou apparently set up his main base, here," he pointed at the red dot on west side of the island. "The other bases are scattered around Wave. Mainly they are set up in the capital of Wave, Umidori, 50 kilometers from here, though some of them are set up in small villages and towns. If we want to seize Gatou completely we need to destroy them at the same time." The black haired man nodded to Raido.

Yutsu Raido, the head Investigation and Interrogation nodded and took over. "These are the photos and files we managed to collect about his group," the long haired kenjutsu master laid the photos and files above the map. Naruto took one of the photos. It was a clear photo shot the investigation squad managed to get of Gatou's main base. The base was built in the woods and it was hanging above the ground, probably for better protection.

"How did you manage to get its ground plan?" Kishida Yukari, the head of potion and poison researched asked him bewildered as she stared quite disbelievingly at one of the papers on the table.

"My squad captured three of Gatou's man and he was quite… kind to tell us its ground plan," the sadistic girl rolled her emerald green eyes, knowing exactly what he has done to the man to tell him the main base's ground plan. "Of course it isn't the accurate ground plan, but it will still do us good."

"Won't Gatou realize that some of his men were missing?"

"He will if he notices their dissapearances," Raido nodded in agreement. "But my men have replaced them," he told them with a glint on his eyes. "That's where I got the other information about his base. You'll be interested with a new interesting news I got from them 5 hours ago," he paused. "Apparently the bridge builder whose name is Tazuna hired Konoha's shinobis to protect him," all of the departments' heads turned to their leader when he snapped a chunk of the chair behind him with his strong grip. The blonde haired man was gritting his teeth, seething.

Naruto took a deep breath and released the chunk of wood from his palm. "I'm sorry for the intrusion, please continue."

"The missing-nin that Gatou hired, Zabuza, who was known as The Devil Mist apparently was defeated by the Leaf group. My men gathered more information about this group from Gatou's informant in the city," he put a photo of a silver haired man with a mask covered his face. A leaf hitae-ate covered his left eye. "This is Hatake Kakashi, known as Copy-nin Kakashi from Konoha. From our old data, it is said that he has sharingan on his left eye, a gift from his deceased friend, Uchiha Obito who died in the Great Wars in one of the battle between Konoha and Iwa (stone). This other one however," he withdrew another photo. This time it was a man wearing green spandex giving V-sign and white teeth. Yukari, the poison mistress shivered as she rubbed her arms. "…is Maito Gai. He's Konoha's taijutsu specialist."

"So Tazuna hired those two to protect him?" Shinku Haiga, the head of Seal Researched asked.

"Not just them," some eyebrows were raised. "The two are in charge of 2 genin teams. And I believe you'll be interested with some of the genins. One of them is the Uchiha survivor, Uchiha Sasuke whose brother is Uchiha Itachi, the one who slaughtered his own clan, while the other two are Hyuugas."

"Hee.." Yukari smirked. "Sharingan and byakugan, huh?" she looked excited.

Yoshino (Yutsu) Narue glanced at her brother. "What about the other genins?"

"We haven't gathered much about them since they're not from prominent clans. Rock Lee, Maito Gai's pupil. Like his sensei, he's also a taijutsu specialist. Tenten, surname unknown, a weapon specialist. Haruno Sakura, Hatake's pupil, not much known about her but she didn't look to be a strong kunoichi. Hyuuga Hanabi, she comes from the main Hyuuga. Apparently she would be designed as the new heir of Hyuuga since the Hyuuga elders thought that the elder sister, Hyuuga Hinata, is useless. She's also Hatake's pupil, like Haruno girl and Uchiha. The other Hyuuga is Hyuuga Neji, a Hyuuga branch's member. His father was the twin of current leader of Hyuuga clan, Hiashi, named Hizashi. Hizashi died years ago when the Cloud ambassador tried to kidnap Hyuuga Hinata but failed, resulting in his death. The Cloud demanded Konoha to give them Hiashi's corpse or there would be war between Cloud and Leaf," Raido explained.

"Let me guess…" Yukari interrupted. "The Leaf didn't want war but at the same time they can't give Hiashi to Cloud or the secret of byakugan would be at Cloud's disposal," she grinned when her comrade nodded.

"Leaf gave them Hizashi's corpse, not Hiashi's, didn't they?" Shousei Ueki, the head of administrative stated. "And because of the cage seal the branch family members have, if they died the bloodline would be locked by the seal thus making Cloud unable to learn the secret of byakugan."

"Damn, that was sick of Leaf to do something like that," Yukari said. Some of the ninjas on the room nodded, including angry Naruto.

"Actually I think I can't blame Konoha for doing that," Naruto looked sharply at the head of Strategy and Warfare.

"Man, don't tell me that you agree with them, Hyouga," Yukari whined.

"I don't agree with them," he said firmly. "But you have to see Konoha's condition at that time. After the great wars and Soramaru-sama's attack, the Leaf was devastated and haven't yet to regain their strength even years after those battles. Of course they would hesitate to enter another battle that could very well mean their end."

Naruto sighed. "Let's stop talking about Leaf and go back to Gatou," the Kyuubi vessel preferred not to hear about Leaf anymore. Even until this day after decades of years he spent outside Konoha, the former Hokage's son was still bitter toward the Leaf and resented it.

"As you wish, Naruto-sama," Naruto nodded.

They spent another 2 hours to finalize the attack and a day to prepare the assault teams.

**Meanwhile in Tazuna's house**

Kakashi stared at Gai from his bed. The jounin was still exhausted after using sharingan 2 days ago. "So you also feel that chakra…" he murmured.

The taijutsu specialist looked serious for once as he nodded gravely. "That chakra…it was massive and it kind of reminded me of Kyuubi's chakra. I don't think Gatou will be a problem compare to it. And don't forget about our true assignment regarding those Sky mercenaries."

"Do you think they have anything to do with that chakra?" the silver haired jounin asked carefully.

Konoha's taijutsu specialist shrugged. "I truly don't know," he scratched his head. "We can investigate it, but with you tied to the bed, exhausted, and Gatou's problem, I don't think we can thoroughly investigate whether it is true or not," he gazed sternly at his rival.

Kakashi sighed. "Fine, I know that I'm foolish for using sharingan like that and got tricked by Zabuza," he relented. "I should know my own limitation," he finished dejectedly.

"Hmph. At least you are brave to state the fact," Gai grumbled then suddenly perked up. "No matter, my eternal rival, I, Maito Gai will solve our problem with swift act!" with that Gai dashed from the room, leaving Konoha's White Fang's son sweat dropped at the 180 degrees change.

"…Actually, I'm more worried of what you will do," the instructor of team 7 muttered.

The situation inside Tazuna's house was…intense.

Sasuke was scowling as he ignored the ramble of the pink haired girl who had a crush toward him, while said girl was torn between worshipping her 'prince' or glaring and beaten Lee who kept swearing his undying love, senseless.

…Alright, that wasn't intense. That was…amusing.

Let's switch to the other occupants!

Tenten played with a kunai and twirled it on her finger since she had nothing else to do except gazing at the two Hyuugas, a sweat drop rolled from her forehead. Both Hyuugas were tense as they stared at each other furiously, silently glaring. It was weird and kind of freaky to see 2 pairs of blank eyes glaring at each other, without even blinking for a whole 5 minutes.

Tsunami was humming as she prepared for lunch. Behind her, her son, Inari, was scowling at the guests. Tazuna switched his gazes from Sasuke-Sakura-Lee group, Neji-Hanabi group, and his drink. He sighed, regretting the moment he accepted Hokage's offer of a genin team addition for free. They were all weird! The only sane one was the brown haired girl, and she was too obsessed with weapons! And the jounins were both bizarre, especially the green spandex one!

Tazuna cursed his luck!

The door to the kitchen was slammed open loudly. All heads turned to the door. Sasuke and Tenten already clutched kunai and were prepared for any kind of attack, while the 2 Hyuugas jumped from their seats and took a stance. They sighed simultaneously when they saw that it was only Gai.

"My youthful students!" Gai grinned, his teeth sparkled.

"I'm not your student," Hanabi muttered softly as she glared at the jounin who didn't seem fazed or even saw it. She thanked whatever deity up there that she wasn't his student. She would rather commit suicide than having him as her teacher. The horror!

"Since my rival is bedridden thus it would be my responsibility to train you all to face the danger of life!" Kakashi's team members cursed.

"Crap!"

"Fuck!"

"What the friggin' hell!"

"For that you'll run 100 laps of this city!" Gai shouted happily.

"Gai-sensei! I will do whatever you want me do so I'll become stronger and will do it with such passion a that a youth like me needed!" Lee exclaimed tearfully.

"Lee, oh you're truly my great student!" Gai exclaimed as he hugged his student.

Tsunami stopped cutting the vegetables as she stared incredulously at the scene in front of them. She gazed questioningly to her embarrassed father, who simply shrugged and tried to tune the noise down.

Inari gaped. His idea about a hero was completely crushed as he compared his brave and kind stepfather to the 2 clowns in front of him. 'And jij (grandfather) wanted them to save the Wave?' he cried out inwardly. "What did he want them to do? Making a fool of themselves and hoped that Gatou's men will die laughing?'

Outside Tazuna's house, 60 meters from it, Rakurai Shinei, the little brother of the head of infiltration and assassination of Soragakure, Rakurai Shinjo, sweat dropped as he used his X-ray vision bloodline. With his blue eyes with silver slitted iris, he could see 2 heats (kind of like byakugan vision, only change the chakra path with heat colors) that were clearly males were hugging each other tightly. "Er…" he blinked and rubbed his eyes, wondering if there was something wrong with his vision. Too tired perhaps?

"What is it?" his comrade asked his black haired friend who was currently activating his bloodline curiously.

"Two of the Leaf shinobis, both males, were…hugging," Shinei said quite disbelieving at what he just said.

"Oh, that must be Gai and his pupil, Rock Lee. It is said in the files that they did have their…er, quirks," Shinei stared incredulously at his friend who simply shrugged. The two went back to their job, observing the Leaf shinobis and reported if they did anything suspicious, which was excluding Gai's and Lee's erratic behaviour.

"And I thought that Kanada-san was already bad enough," Shinjo's brother shook his head, being reminded of Kanada Shigeru, one of the leader of Soragakure's personal guards.

"…" his comrade nodded in agreement.

**2 days after the meeting in Sky village**

"Naruto-sama, we have succeeded to find the right ways to Koori using the cave system," Kimimaro told him as he trotted beside his superior as they walked up the stairs toward Naruto's office in the top floor of Kanrisei Tower, otherwise known as Seiken tower, the tower used by Soragakure's administrative department and also Naruto.

"That fast?" Naruto raised his eyebrow. He expected that it would be longer. When Raido asked them about the map of the cave system, the Wave daimyou and his advisors couldn't give it to them because no one alive knew about the cave systems' ways. The very few people who knew about it died more than a decade ago, and Wave simply didn't have time and money to explore the cave when their country was in the verge of collapsing.

"I simply use Katarie to search for the ways out of the cave in Sangoshou. Two of the 8 exits we currently found were in Koori. I thought that a demon bird will be able to feel the change of air inside the cave," Kimimaro referred to his son's pet sharn'gotti. His own sharn'gotti, Riome, was too big to explore such cave, so he borrowed his youngest son's pet that had the size of an adult eagle.

Naruto turned his head to the window when he saw a shadow flashed from outside, though he still resumed his walk. "Sheil're, what is it?" the Kyuubi vessel asked as the bird flew slowly outside the tower.

I want to join the annihilation squads. I want to hunt them too. Wonder if human meat is actually as good as the rumor stated.   
Naruto chuckled. "Well, I can't say anything about human meat, never eat it myself," behind him Kimimaro twitched and looked green at the idea of becoming a cannibal.. "As long as you don't develop a liking to human meat, it's okay, and don't forget to attack only our targets, and that doesn't include Sky citizen," he warned lightly.   
What do you think I am? Stupid? The demon bird snorted indignantly. Of course I won't eat Sky citizen! It won't do to have a summon to eat its summoner! And I'm not that foolish to attack just anyone I saw.   
"Alright then you can join Noa's squad. She is in charge of the group attacking 4 small Gatou's outposts in the West shore."   
Why can't I join the main assault group? Sheil're squawked. There would be many foolish humans there the demon looked over Kimimaro. No offense Kimimaro. The white haired guard just nodded. 

"Don't you think me as a human too?" the blonde haired man raised his eyebrow.

**Nope. You're you. **Kielle's son simply said. Naruto shook his head in exasperation. **So, you haven't answered my question.** The firebird reminded him.

"The main base is located in the woods. I don't want to damage the forest or the base with your fire. I'm planning to make use of the base. Since it was already there, why not use it ourselves?" both shinobis stopped in front of Naruto's office. The Soragakure leader pressed his thumb on a dark blue screen located beside the door where his fingerprint was scanned. The red light changed to green. Above it, a round gray metal slipped, revealing an optical lens. The lens moved 15 centimeters forward. Naruto neared his right eye to the lens until it almost touched the blue eye. After 5 seconds of checking, there was a bip sound. The lens retracted and the round metal closed. After that a small black metal flap opened beside the scanner, revealing a hole with a small shuseki ball inside it. There were cables attached to the red stone.

Naruto sighed as he poured a small of his chakra on it. "Every damn time I want to enter this office…" he muttered. Behind him, the bone user grinned. It was under Yugo's insistence that the Head Engineer installed a security measurement to places he thought important enough, such as Naruto's office, so no uninvolved shinobi would be able to enter the rooms. Usually, his own lab also had this kind of security, but only when he wasn't inside and was doing something dangerous or important test inside the room.

Naruto had demanded him to uninstalled those devices as he thought they were just nuisances and it wasn't like any Sky citizen could betray Soragakure, but the younger man wouldn't budge at all, saying that it was better safe than sorry. And the blonde haired man couldn't do it himself, because even if he could destroy a whole band of missing-nins, he didn't know anything about engineering at all even if it was to save his life. The poor man gave up after 2 months of pleadings and trying to undo the securities by himself, only to feel what was it like being electrocuted and other things.

Even his wife, Yui, who was Yugo's cousin, told him to leave it. And thus the blonde man (and his assistants) had to endure those securities every time they wanted to enter the room.

"At least he took out the card slashing device," Naruto mumbled. "I always lost those damn cards!" It was only after the 25th time Naruto lost his card that Yugo finally relented to take the card checker, otherwise Naruto would be always standing outside his office with no way in if his assistants weren't inside.

Sheil're perched on top of the tower and made himself comfortable as he flapped his wings and settled on the roof.

Naruto and Kimamaro entered the room. The door automatically locked in. His table, unlike other hidden villages' leaders, was devoid of any paper work. Naruto blessed himself to think of creating the administrative department in the first place, or he would have to face paperwork every time he entered his office. He would only read paperwork that was deemed important by the administrative. He thanked God (or rather demon) that his people were able to do almost every thing without asking him every time. He snorted as he pitied those leaders who had to deal with mere reports every day.

Naruto sat on his comfortable seat with Kimimaro across him. The Kaguya patriarch gave him the sketch of the cave systems they had explored. After 15 minutes on scanning the draft, Naruto tapped the ear clip on his right ear. The square red stone carved on the ear clip glowed.

"Hyouga, I need you in my office under 15 minutes. Bring Raido as well. He's with you, right?" Naruto paused. "Kimimaro has found the ways to enter Koori using the underground cave system. Yes. I'll wait."

Naruto turned to his loyal guard. "It seems that we'll be able to move our schedule. I don't think it will be a problem though. Gatou's men only consist of mere thugs, normal humans though he occasionally hired some shinobis' helps. The problem would have to be about Gatou's men outside Wave. We can't eliminate them at the same time with their boss…So troublesome he is." Naruto craned his stiff neck. "Kimimaro, tell the assassination teams later that they may be able to use sharn'gotti to transport them quicker. I want Gatou to be completely cut off from all of his businesses outside Wave in 3 days."

The Sky council has decided 2 days ago to seize Gatou's power outside Wave first. They were afraid that if they dealt with Gatou first, his men would use that opportunity to be the new boss. It would create a problem if the council didn't do something about it.

**3 days later**

/This is Team Falcon. Blue Alpha, do you copy me/ a radio transmission was heard from the receiver.

"This is Blue Alpha. Over," a brown haired man said.

/Blue Alpha, we have just managed to dispose Bat's men in Urahara city and seize his businesses here. Over/ the man who said it used the code Bat for Gatou.

"Team Falcon, we have received the news. Dispose the bodies and any trace of our involvements. Scavenger team, Team Raven will take over the businesses there. Over/ the man took a marker and scratched the Urahara name from the billboard hanging near his table. There were already some other scratches there.

/Understood. Falcon, out/ the link went dead.

The brown haired ninja tapped his ear clip twice. The shuseki stone glowed. Unlike the recent and improved ear clip, the man still used the former ear clip which only had 10 km range, though it was still prove to be adequate. "Blue Alpha to Blue Omega, team Falcon has finished their job. Send team Raven to Urahara city and proceed with the next job. Over"

/This is Blue Omega. Team Raven will arrive there 2 days at top without the sharns/ Blue Omega referred the sharns to sharn'gotti.

"Understood. Team Falcon will proceed with the usual method to cover team Raven," he tapped it twice again and the link disconnected. "This is Blue Alpha to every teams who haven't reported yet. How's the situation? Over," he waited for a moment before someone received the transmission.

/This is Team Eagle. We met some obstacles but the situation will be under control in 5 more minutes. Kujira city is ours. Request for a scavenger team. Over/

"Team Vulture is already on its way to Kujira city. Over."

/Thanks. Team Eagle, out/

/This is Team Orca. Requesting another team to take over the mission in Yurai city. Four of my men were injured. Kia is healing them as we speak. We're retreating now. We have managed to kill half of Bat's hatchlings when a group of missing-nins, possible hired by Bat appeared. One of them used paralyzing poison/

"This is Blue Alpha. Two jounin squads nearby will take over the mission. You have permission to use your sharns to retreat. Two medic-nins will be dispatched soon to your way. Over."

/Understood. Team Orca, out/

"Blue Alpha to Blue Omega," the man tapped his ear clip twice again. "Tell Shakira to abort her mission and take over Team Orca's mission in Yurai city. And also send 2 medic-nins for Team Orca. Situation: half of Bat's men are dead. A group of hired missing-nins injured them. One used paralyzing poison. Over."

/Blue Omega here. I will. Over/ The brunette went back to his job and received more reports from other teams. 3 minutes later, his ear clip let out bipping noise and he tapped it once. /Blue Omega to Blue Alpha. No need to abort the mission. Shakira and her men already finished the job. They will soon move to Yurai city. Code name will be Team Hawk/

"Blue Alpha here. We have received the news. Thanks for the assistance. Blue Alpha, out" he tapped his ear clip twice and the square red stone carved on it stopped glowing. The black haired man looked at the billboard and then typed something on his computer.

The computer pinged as a pop up told him that the report has been sent.

The man went back to his job, receiving the reports from all teams for Alpha mission.

**In Shuyouseki, Soragakure**

In Reisen Tower, a tower in Soragakure used by Investigation and Interrogation Department. A blue haired man received the report from Blue Alpha, he read it for a moment and then printed the report, before telling his comrade to send it to their Head of Department, Yutsu Raido.

His comrade nodded and set out to Kanrisei tower, where almost all heads of departments were there in the meeting on their supreme leader's (Naruto) office.

In Kanrisei tower, called Seiken by some, the Council was looking at the hologram of the shinobi realm map. Some of the regions in the map were colored red, while the others were green, when Naruto received a report from his assistant.

/Naruto-sama, Reiji from Investigation Department is here for a report/

"Thank you, Ryu. Send him in," Naruto pushed a small button on his desk and the door to his office opened. A brunette entered the office. He looked unnerved for a moment when all attentions were focused on him, before he composed himself and reported.

"Naruto-sama, we have received a report from Blue Alpha," he gave him the paper.

"Thank you, you can go now," the Kyuubi vessel dismissed him. The man bowed before he exited the office. Naruto read the paper for a moment before a wide smile plastered on his face. "News from West region in Water country. They have completed their missions in 4 more cities," he gave the paper to Ueki, the head of administrative who stood beside him.

Ueki typed on the computer hooked to the black hologram device as he read it. In the hologram, 4 red areas in the West region of Water country changed their colors to green.

"Hm…with this pace, we will be able to wipe out Gatou's men outside Wave in a day or two," Hyouga commented.

"Gatou is stupid, preferring quantity over quality," Yukari piped in, shaking her head in amusement. The other people chuckled, knowing that she was right.

"It's a good thing he did it too. We have no problem in taking over his power," Shinku Haiga, the Head of Seal Research said.

"Yes, it is. But there is no challenge at all. I don't know how he can become a crime boss with only mere thugs to defend him," Yukari replied.

Naruto chuckled. "Always like a challenge, don't you, Yukari?" the hyper woman nodded in giddiness.

"Of course."

"Speaking of Gatou, We'll finish him and his men on the Wave after all of his power outside Wave was cut off," Naruto smiled. He took an empty crystal glass from his desk and poured wine on it. "Anyone?" the others nodded and gave him empty or half filled wine glass. Naruto poured the wine bottle's content.

"To our victory!" everyone cheered and drank their wine.

TBC…

Meh, this chapter is actually done. Yay! Don't forget to review. I suggest that people who haven't yet to register in register soon. That way if I think your review is good and you want a reply, I'll be able to reply your review.


	16. Chapter Fifteen

**Author's Note:** From now on I won't write any disclaimer anymore. Surely every reader of this site has known that stories in this site are made by fans, and not the real owner. I will only write disclaimer in the first chapter of new story.

Sorry for the long wait, I was busy making design for my task, but everytime I was assisted by the assistant, she asked me to change it again and again. It seemed that this time it was fixed though, only needed some changes of the room placements for the design. Thank God for that.

I'm currently writing for another one-shot of HPSG1 crossover.

There are some battle scenes below. Hopefully you'll like it.

Chapter Fifteen 

"The casualties?"

"Twenty two ninjas are injured, 2 of them are critical. The medics are doing their best to help them," Naruto nodded. At least no one died, for now. He didn't know whether the ones who got fatal wound would make it out alive or not but he hoped they would and hopefully were able to be reinstated back as shinobi. "Twelve of them already go back to their homes. And others are still receiving treatments. One of the men with heavy injury will not be able to go back as ninja if there is no special treatment applied, but medic said that he will live," Naruto winced. "Kikumi-san said she's working on it and there is a probability that the man will be able to live as ninja again after months or years of recovery."

"What about the take over?"

"It is 85 percent finished for step one. 60 percent are already continuing to step two," Naruto sighed. They were 2 days behind their schedule. It was mostly because of the delay of the COM towers' constructions.

"Thanks, you can go now. I expect full report in an hour, send it to my place," he told him. The brown haired assistant nodded and put the papers he brought on his arms on the table.

Naruto tapped his earpiece twice. "Hyouga, it's me. I think we need to take care of Gatou before he gets the wind of his business being taken over," Naruto paused. "Today, probably," he paused again. "Yes. I know 70 percent of our forces are deployed outside Wave country and scattered on the world and won't be able to arrive here on time for the final assault. We won't need to secure our village heavily since no one know about our arrival yet and the sharns can patrol although I don't think there will be anyone who dare to attack any hikouseki, nor they are able to do that without bird summon. Beside the only main problem coming from Gatou right now was the missing-nins he hired. The thugs will be easily defeated. Infact I'll lead the assault to the ninjas while the others attack Gatou's base and his outposts in Wave. And yes, I know that we only have 10 percent of our active ninjas (not including the genins) here," Naruto was silent. "I'll authorize the use of sharns. Tomorrow? Okay. Thanks. No, the others will stay on their places and continue their missions. No need to ask them to come here. I think I'll announce it," Naruto hmmed and closed the com link, before he opened his link to all ninjas that were above genin rank.

"Everyone, this is Naruto speaking. Change of plans. At first we of the council think it is better to wait until we take over all of Gatou's sources, but it seems we're behind schedule. We'll attack tomorrow at dawn. The information and instruction will be sent to your places tonight by sharn post (AN: reminding me of owl post from Harry Potter. He3x). Good day," he closed the link and leaned on his seat. His face was determined.

**With Neji**

Neji narrowed his eyes as he practiced his doujutsu. He carefully noted that there were 2 men carefully hidden 25 meters behind him. He admitted if it weren't because of his eyes, he wouldn't realize that there was someone watching him.

'Are they shinobi?' he frowned when he didn't see any hitae-ate on their bodies. 'Missing-nins?' Often, missing-nins didn't use their former village's hitae ate to avoid announcing their identities as a missing-nin. Neji waited for them to attack him, but they didn't move an inch. 'The others need to know about them," he said before he exited the clearing, trying to look as normal as possible so they would not suspect that their presences have been noted.

The two shinobis on the tree frowned. The shadow from the tree fell on them, so no one could see their faces clearly.

That was strange. Usually the black haired kid would use 2 hours to practice there, but now he stopped training after only half an hour.

"Did he know us here?" his comrade whispered, but the man could clearly hear it.

"I don't know. Perhaps he did or perhaps he just had something else to do," he said worriedly.

"But I thought the average distance for byakugan user is 10 meters only," he nodded grimly. Either the kid was not the average Hyuuga or he still didn't know about their presence and only went somewhere for an errand. He hoped the latter.

"Tell the others that there is a possibility the Hyuuga boy notice us. I'll follow him from afar," the man jumped to another branch where the light has fallen to reveal the face of Rakurai Shinei, brother of Rakurai Shinjo, one of the Sky council. His comrade nodded as Shinei leaped to other tree.

**With Kakashi's team plus Tenten**

Team 7 was training walking on trees with Tenten as supervisor. The older girl sighed as she watched them trying to control their chakra. She had been asked by Kakashi to help them. 'To improve team's relation,' he said. Tenten grumbled, knowing that the lazy jounin was just trying to find time to read his dirty book without being bothered by his students. Now she didn't have time to practice! Stupid Neji and Lee! They should've helped her.

She noticed Neji coming from the corner of her eyes. She raised her eyebrow. 'Two unknown ninjas observing him?' she noted he was using secret gestures their team managed to make. She glanced at Kakashi wondering if he knew something about it, but the man was on his own world, giggling like pervert. 'This is the so-called genius Kakashi?' Tenten thought incredulously, before remembering it was the man her weird sensei declared as eternal rival.

She turned her attention back to her teammate and made gestures. Are they still around? (AN: the real secret codes obviously won't be a code with grammar. I just make it easier for the readers to read)

Neji activated his byakugan and monitored his surrounding. No, or they aren't within my range. But you have 4 men watching you. Neji paused. They left. Must have noticed me.

"Tenten!" Neji called her.

Enemy?

"What is it?" The brown haired girl played along. It would be strange if people noticed he and she were just watching other in silence for long.

Unknown, but they didn't attack us, only watching us. No hitae-ate, but ninjas. Any idea?

"Where is Lee?"

What do you think of their power? Chuunin or jounin?

"I don't know, but he and Gai-sensei said about running 100 laps around this town. Why?"

Don't know. But they must be pretty strong. I didn't realize their presence until I trained my doujutsu.

"I want to spar with him."

That meant there are at least 6 ninjas with power at least chuunin observing us, and don't forget about Lee and Gai-sensei. They must have someone watching them too. Better not take a chance pursuing them. They didn't attack us, right? 

"What? Am I not good enough to be your sparring partner?" She plastered an annoyed look. Neji only shrugged before he leapt to a branch and left team 7 to fing his jounin instructor. Behind him, Hanabi frowned.

Seventy five meters behind the group, Shinei was observing them with the latest binocular developed by the Technology and Weapon Development. Unlike the normal one, the lens didn't reflect the sunlight. It would be a problem if the people they spied on noticed their presence because of that.

"What should we do now? Should we follow him?" Shinjo's brother shook his head.

"Let Kyouji and his team deal with him," four men around him nodded.

"Man, this is so boring," one of them, a man with shoulder length blue hair said, tapping his foot impatiently on the branch he was standing on. "Even a D-rank mission is better than this. And why should we have 10 jounins to watch them anyway. It isn't like they are much of a threat to us," he complained. (AN: the Sky's D-rank mission is different from other village. A D-rank mission from Konoha is an E-rank mission for Sky)

"Naruto-sama's order," his friend replied. The blue haired man groaned dejectedly, but stopped when his ear tingled. He looked at the others and noticed they were tapping their in-silent-mode ear clips. They were silent, listening to their leader's mass announcement.

"Hell yeah, no more watching them after this day!" he cheered softly when the link was closed. The others smiled too. Even if they didn't complain outwardly, they felt bored too. Five minutes later, they were receiving order to withdraw, as watching them was no longer needed. "At last, real fight."

"Don't get your hopes too high. There is a possibility that we will be dispatched to deal with mere thugs instead of the missing-nins," Shinei told him.

"Stop ruining my good mood, will you?" he grumbled, as they raced to Sangoshou Island.

0-0 0-0 0-0

Gatou looked carefully at the missing-nins standing in front of him inside his office. He had hired them after Zabuza was defeated by Leaf-ninjas. He didn't know about the details, but it seemed he was beaten quite easily by 2 jounins. Angry, Gatou hired more missing-nins. The numbers baffled his henchmen, as he never hired that much missing-nins in one operation.

He smirked. After this, Wave would be completely under him. He was sure that with this victory, none would dare to stand on his way.

"Tomorrow, you'll go to the main island and kill the Leaf ninjas and everyone that dares to defy me. With each Leaf-nin's head, I will give you a bonus of 1000 ryo," he noticed the ninjas grinned widely at the mention of bonus. It was so easy. There was no one could resist money. With money he could buy and get everything he wanted. "But I will only give this bonus to the ones who kill them," the crime lord adjusted his black sunglasses. And hopefully they would kill each other so he wouldn't need to pay them. He dismissed them. When they all have exited the room, he laughed loudly, not realizing there was a 'bug' under his table.

One of Gatou's men listened on the receiver, before he nodded at his partner. "Inform Naruto-sama about this," his partner nodded and vanished.

0-0 0-0 0-0

"Woah, now this is what I called a mess," an amused voice broke off the fights going on on the bridge. The Konoha shinobis were hard pressed to protect Tazuna from the assault of 10 missing-nins, not including Zabuza and the fake hunter-nin and the two that were already knocked out by Gai. When they turned their heads, they noticed that it was a man with reddish orange hair that spoke. Beside him, his black haired companion nodded in agreement. "Hey, Haru," the man trailed off, observing the ice mirror dome created by Haku. "Is he your relative?"

The black haired Sky shinobi stared at the dome. "Seeing that he has the same bloodline as mine, I presumed he is indeed my relative."

"Wow, this needs to be celebrated. A family reunion. How nice," the orange haired man grinned. "Who do you think will win if you two fight?"

"Ginji-sempai, are you doubting my skill?"

Naruto's personal guard shrugged. "Just asking. No need to get riled up over it."

"I'm not riled up," Kazeru Ginji looked at him dubiously. Haru sighed. "I'm more skilled than he is. Perhaps under my family guidance he will be able to beat me in years to come," _though it was unlikely_, Haru added inwardly. "But he's training via trial and error, wasting his time. Still he is good to achieve this level without no one to help him," he admitted.

All of the shinobis were now watching the two talked as if they weren't there. They wondered who they were talking about. One of the missing-nins, angry for being ignored, threw kunais at their direction, only to be intercepted by a shinobi who appeared in front of the two men.

"Yo Shouji. Have you decided to join the crowds?" Ginji asked the other man. Yakimaru Shouji raised his eyebrow and sheathed his katana. The brown eyed sword user smiled cockily.

"Of course. You didn't think I'd let you hog all the fun, did you?" the brown haired man tapped his chin as he evaluated the missing-nins and the Leaf-nins in front of him. As he evaluated them, two other men appeared behind him. The first three men turned to the only blond in the group. The man was standing proudly. He was wearing top and pants as black as abyss. Silver buckle circled his waist. Dark red vest full with pockets adorned his body, complete with the fingerless black gloves. A kodachi was strapped behind his waist

"Sora-sama," they said simultaneously. Naruto nodded to them.

"Why are you still standing here?" he asked. The three had a decency to blush.

Far from them, Kakashi frowned, but no letting his attention turned completely from his opponent. That man…he seemed familiar somehow. He couldn't see his face clearly from this distance, but he swore that he knew him.

"Who the hell are you?" one of the missing-nins cried out.

"Sky mercenary group, at your service," Ginji bowed mockingly. The ninjas cried out in surprise. "We're hired to cleanse Wave from the likes of you," he added.

"That's impossible! This country is too poor to hire you!"

"Yeah well, we didn't say that the payment was money, did we?" Haru joined as he walked closer with Ginji.

Kakashi and Gai looked at each other in silence. It seemed that Sky did have a connection with Wave although this revelation was news for them. They first thought that Sky was hired by Gatou instead of by the Wave itself. They looked at Tazuna for answer, but the bridge builder himself was staring at the Sky ninjas with dumbfounded expression etched on his face.

"You're lying!" the man stared at the fox tattoo carved on Ginji's sleeveless left arm. It had 7 tails. "You're just saying that to make us afraid!" he yelled at the two 5 meters in front of him.

"Suit yourself," Haru said before the man screamed the next second when ice pierced through the bridge floor and stabbed the man from below.

Ginji whistled in appreciation. "Nice job!" Behind his mask, Haku's eyes widened when he noticed the eyes protruded from the thick concrete.

The missing-nins stepped backwards. One of them seeing that the Leaf-nins were distracted dashed toward Sakura who guarded Tazuna. The missing-nin punched her on her stomach and threw her to the ground unconscious.

"SAKURA!" Kakashi shouted. Tazuna's eyes widened when he saw the missing-nin coming toward him. He was surprised when a blur stopped in front of him, knocking out the man's kunai and touched his face. An inhuman scream coming out from his mouth as the man's skin dried up. In seconds, the figure in front of the bridge builder let the man's face go. The black haired missing-nin's body was dried up like a mummy and his lifeless eyes were bulged out.

Tazuna gulped at the figure in front of him with dread. He couldn't see the figure's face, but he knew that it was a woman. The hair was too long for a man, reaching her knee, and the body was too curvy to be a man's body.

Ginji perked up when he saw who it was. "Mizuki, nice to see you join us!" the dark blue haired woman only nodded. The two Hyuugas were shocked to see her eyes. They were crystalline blue with no pupil, like Hyuuga's eyes. If it weren't for the wrong color they would think she was a Hyuuga.

"Stay behind me. I will protect you while the others deal with them," she said to Tazuna calmly.

"W-why did you protect me?"

"Didn't you hear Ginji told you that we're hired by Wave. If you died the bridge's construction will be delayed."

"But I didn't hear anything about Wave hiring you!"

"Because it was supposed to be a secret until now,' she answered. "No more question. You can ask your daimyou later," Tazuna nodded reluctantly, before he remembered about the unconscious pink haired girl.

"The girl! You have to help her!" Mizuki looked at Sakura and narrowed when she saw her leaf hitae-ate, remembering how her saviour suffered under the village's hand.

"It's not my duty to help her. Beside her friend is already helping her," she said, watching Lee picked up the pink haired girl.

Naruto was walking toward them with Kimimaro in tow when his ear clip was bipping. He listened for a moment before he frowned. "They are using gaitling guns?" Naruto frowned deeper. "We need him alive. If you bring down the roof, there is a possibility he'll die. Put them under genjutsu so they will think you're dead. They're merely thugs so they won't realize they are trapped under illusion," the man in the other end agreed and closed the link.

Naruto or Sora as he would be known by other villages later smirked at the missing-nins. "You guys should just surrender and go away from Wave. Your boss will be dealt with soon. It's useless for you to continue your mission."

The missing-nins were looking at each other. And with silent agreement they attacked Sora (AN: I shall use 'Sora' to call Naruto when he's in the presence of others that don't know that he's Naruto), leaving the Leaf ninjas. Sora raised his eyebrow. "Well, I don't mind some quick cash either."

"It's a free game then?" Ginji grinned at his leader.

"Of course," his grin went wider. Sora vanished and reappeared in front of the attacking missing-nins followed by his subordinates who attacked the others that weren't engaging the blond.

Shouji decided to attack Zabuza, being interested to fight against the other swordsman like him. Kushida Haruhiko or called by Haru by his close friends decided to fight his relative. The green-eyed man destroyed one of the ice mirrors using his conjured ice sword to barge in. The three tails' host, Mizuki, created a water serpent which attacked a missing-nin nearby. Naruto fought against 5 missing-nins simultaneously, while Ginji fought the other three.

**Shouji vs. Zabuza**

Shouji calmly walked toward Zabuza. His hitae-ate was still covering his eyes.

"It will be an honor to fight one of the Seven Swordsmen of Mist. My name is Yakimaru Shouji. And I will be your opponent," he drew his black katana from the sheath.

The A-rank missing-nin eyed his strange colored sword with appreciation. "You have a good sword."

"Thank you. I'll be sure to send your compliment to its creator."

"Hu hu hu. Copy-nin, it seems that I won't be able fight you this time," Zabuza turned toward the Leaf jounin and raised his eyebrow when the silver haired man was frozen and his eyes widened. Curious, Zabuza followed his gaze and landed on the blonde man. "Someone you know?" he asked, but the man didn't seem to hear him as he continued to stare in disbelief. The missing-nin turned his attention to his opponent. "Let's fight then," with those words they clashed against each other.

**Haru vs. Haku**

Haru ignored the young Uchiha behind him as he stared at his opponent. "May I know your parent's name who had given you this bloodline?"

"Why do you want to know?" Haku asked warily behind his mask.

"Just curious, I guess."

"…Amemi. I don't know her maiden name," he answered, seeing this was of no relevance and wouldn't hurt him.

"Ah, you must be my cousin then. My mother had a little sister named Amemi. Pleasure to meet you, cousin. My name is Kushida Haruhiko," he said at the now stunned Haku. "It's unfortunate that we're standing in different side. What's your name?"

"…Haku," he managed to say after being silent for long moment.

"Haku then. You may call me Haru. Pay attention well because I'll show you the true art of Kushida clan," he formed another ice sword and charged.

**Water serpent vs. unnamed missing-nin**

The serpent slithered around the anxious nin. Its transparent body reflected the sun, made it sparkled like gems under light. It stopped and swayed back and forth, timing its time to attack. The brown haired missing-nin threw a kunai toward it. The snake stayed on its spot, letting the kunai hit its body. But it didn't dissolve like mizu bunshin when the clone was hit. Instead, the sharp weapon passed through its liquid body creating a hole on one of its parts. The hole was filled up with water until there was no trace of it anymore. The snake hissed at the ninja and attacked.

**Ginji vs, three missing-nins**

The orange haired man was grinning. "You guys should be honored to fight me, Kazeru Ginji!" he exclaimed loudly. A kunai was thrown to him. The ninja simply sidestepped it and bent his body to avoid the other missing-nin's kick. Seeing this, the red haired missing-nin brought down his foot, but it was deflected by his opponent's foot.

Using a hand to steady himself, Ginji used the same foot to kick the man in the stomach, followed by his other foot. He propelled his body from the ground with his arms' strength and gave his opponent a round kick.

The missing-nin was thrown, but before he could land on the ground, Ginji appeared below him. He put his palm on the man's face and brought his head down to meet his knee. There was a loud crack when the ninja's spine cracked. The Sky leader's personal guard dropped his lifeless body to the bridge floor.

"Whose next?" he eyed the other two nervous ninjas, grinning the whole time.

**Naruto/Sora vs. five missing-nins**

His opponents eyed him warily. Sora stayed on his spot watching them with an amused smirk, as they circled him. They were wondering what his rank was, since they couldn't see his bare left arm because it was covered by his clothes.

'Shunshin no jutsu,' he vanished from their sight, shocking them, and reappeared as a blur in front of one of them, a dark brown haired man with a scar on his right cheek. Unlike his father's hiraishin no jutsu, shunshin no jutsu was a pretty common technique among ninjas. But being used by naruto who spent years training and perfecting this technique under Kyuubi's guidance, it could be a lethal jutsu. His opponents could only see him as a blur, as their eyes weren't trained to catch him with this speed. Sora barely used a quarter of his normal (not enhanced by Kyuubi's chakra) max speed against the missing-nins. The only ones that could catch his speed perfectly were Kakashi, Gai, and Lee. Kakashi for having sharingan, Gai and Lee because they were training to be as fast as they could. At this rate, Sora's speed was three fourth of Lee's speed without his weights.

Not even trying to focus his chakra to gather around his middle and fore fingers, the blonde attacked the ninja's throat and broke his spinal cord, effectively killing him in an instant. Catching his face, Sora threw the man's body to the nearest missing-nin who quickly jumped to avoid the human missile.

Using the same technique twice, the Sky leader appeared a meter behind him. He locked the man's body from behind and slit his throat with his kunai. He used the same kunai and threw it so fast to the comrade of the man who was currently writhing and clutching his bleeding throat in agony. The weapon imbedded on the spot between the ninja's widened eyes. The man died with his eyes still opened.

The Kyuubi holder smirked when he saw the other two stepped back, clearly horrified with the fact the others died so easily by the blond's hands. They decided to escape from the battlefield, knowing they had no chance of defeating him. They jumped from the bridge and landed on the water surface. They started to run as fast as they could.

Not wanting to let them go away, the yondaime (of Leaf) look-alike followed them. Using his bloodline he inherited from his father side, Sora created a wind whip and slashed the arm of one of the missing-nins. The man cried out and lost his balance, as he couldn't focus his chakra to his feet. The other one seeing this decided to abandon his comrade in fear.

"You know what?" Sora appeared beside him. "One of the things I hate is to see someone abandoning his partner because of fear," was what he said to the scared man before he transformed the whip into a wind blade and drove it through his body. The missing-nin coughed blood before he died. Sora brought the man's body on his shoulder and approached the only one of his opponents who was still alive albeit missing one of his arms. He stood in front of the kneeling man who glared at him defiantly. Sora could see fear on his eyes and raised his eyebrow when he saw the rebellious glint. He could see that his opponent was still young, not even twenty years old.

"You shouldn't become a missing-nin, kid, oh sorry, let me rephrase that. I don't care if you are a missing-nin, but you shouldn't let someone like Gatou hired you."

"You know nothing about me! So don't talk as if you know me!"

"And you don't know me, so you shouldn't talk as if your life is all about crap and other people' lives are all about happiness. Stuff happens. Shit happens. Life is unfair. If you can't stand it, then I'll end it for you," the blonde man beheaded him with his bloody wind blade and caught his head on the tip of the sword. He decided to give him a quick and painless death. With no chakra sustained its balance, the body drowned. Sora went back to the bridge and dropped the body and the head on the floor. He didn't notice Tazuna who puked his guts out.

The jinchuuriki saw that Ginji was already done with his foes. There was no trace of the water serpent, so he guessed that Mizuki recalled it back. Shouji and Haru were still fighting with their opponents. The two seemed to enjoy their matches. He decided to let them do whatever they wanted. If they wanted to play, it was fine with him as long as they finished their mission.

He turned around when he felt someone watching him from behind. Sora snarled when he saw the silver haired jounin looked at him as if he were a ghost. The other jounin who wore a horrible green spandex was looking at him open mouthed and in disbelief.

"What are you staring at?" he bared his teeth.

He really hated Konoha and its people.

TBC…

Okay, chapter Fifteen is done. Yay, me!

Come on guys, hand me your reviews! I'm waiting here.

And no review about how I should write the number using alphabet!

Zabuza's and Haku's fate? They'll die or not? Uh…I have some different ideas about it. I'll decide it later when I write the next chapter.


	17. Chapter Sixteen

Author's Note: I've gotten the name for the third world from Terri. Many thanks to him. His first suggestion is Akagessekai, which could be translated as the red moon world, but I quickly scratched that idea because it reminded me of Akatsuki or the red moon and thus born the name blue moon world. Or Aoigessekai (aoi means blue, sekai means world, perhaps ge is the same thing as tsuki which means moon? At least that's what I think with my limited vocabulary of japanese word that I got after watching so much anime) The demon world would be named as Makai, and shinobi world as ningenkai or human world. Thanks to…someone, forgot who it was, to remind me of those terms. I forgot completely about them.

But I find it pretty annoying to use those terms suddenly here, making this chapter seem a bit detached from the others previously. Oh well…

And I'm sorry for the late update, but after mid exam I updated other fics and not in mood to write a Naruto fic (that's why the fics I update were all Harry Potter or HP crossovers).

Btw, I was surprised when I checked Yukari's (one of the many OCs, that has a position as the head of Poison and Potion Research) surname was Kishida. I thought that I made Haru had the same surname as her at that time, though after I rechecked the character list, Haru's name was Kushida, fortunately. Man, I almost got a heart attack when I saw it first time. The difference was only an alphabet. At least there was a difference…Sigh.

Chapter Sixteen

Unlike Zabuza who clearly preferred power, Shouji preferred speed and accuracy. Haku's master had to use all his worth to block the hit the Sky ninja attempted to do to his vital points, while Shouji himself had to be careful not to be hit, as the result would be dire.

They had been fighting for half an hour and there has been no winner yet. For now.

Haru himself was currently fighting his cousin. The fighting was a bit one-sided, although Zabuza's subordinate was able to give him a surprise or two. But it was clear that the older shinobi would dominate him in matter of minutes. Haku was sweating and panting, while Haru didn't seem as tired as he. For Haru, it was easier to fight Haku than fighting a demon on the trials or hunts. Demons had better endurance, stamina, and of course chakra than normal human, and for that every ninja of Sky was forced to be creative when they fought those demons. Not to mention that he knew more family techniques and experiences than Haku did.

The Sky ninjas were trained in rough terrains and climates. That was one of the many reasons they bought many lands in different countries, so they have different training fields. The condition in third realm itself, called as aoigessekai or the blue moon world (although sometimes it was simply called as third realm, especially for the first years the Sky ninjas stayed there) by Sky citizens recently (Many had called the world with that name for long, but Naruto had just made it official 3 years-3rd realm time-ago) because of the color of the moon there, was rough. There wasn't as much oxygen there as in shinobi world or called ningenkai, the human world by some. The makai or demon world had more oxygen than the third realm, but lesser than ningenkai. The occupants there were worse than both realms though, and that was why no shinobi was allowed to be alone there. They had to go in-group with at least one ninja with superb medical skill, and even then they would have to be supervisored by Naruto himself, as he was one of the only two people of Sky who was able to open up the door between realms, and would be able to interfere if the situation went bad. The hunt was rare event because Naruto was needed in the village. That was why it was a mass trial. Bad thing was that Naruto was hard-pressed to watch them all at once.

This event was particularly draining for the Sky leader. Thankfully he had his personal guards (that actually guarded others in this event) to help him or he would have screamed in frustration.

Sometimes Mizuki, as she was the vessel of Suijinra, the three tailed serpent, replaced him as the one to open the gate between realms, but that was a rare event, and even then it wasn't a mass trial. The Sky citizens had seals that had Kyuubi's chakra and Naruto's blood on them, not Mizuki's. The fact that she wore the same seal helped a little, but she still wasn't able to bring many people with her. She usually went in small group with some ninjas to hunt some demons for their parts, not for trial.

"Ma, why don't you just give up? I don't like to hurt a family member," Haru said, giving his cousin a smile.

"I won't give up for Zabuza-san," his younger cousin yelled.

"Well he ought to surrender too. It isn't like he will win ("HE WILL!" Haku shouted stubbornly as 2 ice shards pierced his defense) against Shouji-san, and even if he does, he won't be able to battle the others, especially with Sora-sama here," the older ninja created an ice shield to protect him from the ices raining down on him. "And Gatou is already dealt with by another squad, so you really don't have any reason to continue this."

"I don't CARE!" the feminine boy was panting.

"Yare, yare," Haru shook his head in exasperation. "Even if our clan is renowned for its loyalty, you don't need to take it to the next level, you know?" he told Haku, infuriating him more. Haku's attacks grew more careless as he was turning more and more desperate. He couldn't help his savior, because his supposed cousin stood on his way, preventing him from aiding Zabuza.

"I'll kill you!"

"Man, I'm gonna be screwed if mom learns that I kill her nephew. Look, kid, I have a proposition for you. Shouji won't kill Zabuza if you come with me to Soragakure and become part of us."

"NO WAY!"

Haru sighed. "Be my guest." Damn it, his cousin was too stubborn for his own good. How in the hell would he tell this to his mother?

0-0 0-0 0-0

"I said…what are you staring at?" Sora repeated the question, which actually shook Kakashi out of his reverie.

Kakashi felt like his dead sensei was speaking with him. The man in front of him had the similar face, built, and even voice. There was a difference though. The blue eyes that were staring at him were cold, filled with hatred and contempt unlike his sensei's warm but stern eyes, as he glared at him and the other Leaf-nins with disgust.

The reddish orange haired taijutsu user scorned at the Leaf-nins as he moved beside his blonde leader.

"…Yondaime-sama?" it was Gai who broke the uncomfortable silence.

The two men looked at each other before they broke into laughter. "Did you hear that, Ginji? They think I'm their supposedly dead leader," he gave them a nasty smirk.

"Aye, Sora-sama. It seemed that your face truly resemble his."

Sora snorted loudly. "What can I say? He was a relative afterall," he snickered alongside with his personal guard when they saw the Leaf-nins' eyes widened in shock. Sora couldn't help, but felt glee. Making these nins confused and uncomfortable was surely a fun job.

"Let's go, Ginji. I think I've had enough playing here," he smirked and turned away. Ginji gave them the finger and snickered before he followed his leader. The two jounins were left, gaping in shock as they watched the apparently relative of their dead Hokage approached the bridge builder.

Kakashi watched the blonde man with a shock and confusion. He didn't know why his sensei-look-alike was downright hostile with them. It wasn't like they had ever offended or hurt him.

Right?

0-0 0-0 0-0

The two ninjas were fighting hard when Zabuza at last managed to disable Shouji. His sword was thrown with a clang 5 meters from Shouji who was sprawled in the bridge floor.

"It seems that I win," Zabuza grinned as he brought down his blade.

The personal guard smirked. "Not quite," he caught the tip of the sword with his two fingers. The missing-nin's eyes widened a fraction as he watched the visible-looking chakra that was focused on his opponent's fingertips. Before he could snap out of his shock, the brown haired man took out a hidden dagger from his hidden sleeve and slashed his abdomen.

Haku's master hissed in pain, as he took a step backward, clutching his bleeding abdomen.

"ZABUZA-SAN!" he saw Haku out of the corner of his eyes was trying desperately to reach him, but every attempt was foiled by his opponent.

"You shouldn't bring your guard down," the brown eyed man said cheekily.

"You tricked me," Zabuza said in realization.

"And you had fallen for it," Shouji added mockingly, as he took another dagger from the other sleeve. "I guess this is the end. Which one you prefer, a death by my daggers or by your wound?"

"Neither," both charged at each other. Zabuza was determined that if he was going to die, he would take his opponent with him. The blood from his bleeding stomach dripped on the floor.

The two ninjas were exchanging blows. Zabuza's movement became more sluggish as his eyes started to blur. The effect of bloodloss was starting to affect him. When he was distracted with his sight, Shouji threw hidden weapons from his sleeve. The former Mist-nin was saved by his superb hearing ability. Still he got a cut on his cheek.

"A hidden weapon, eh?" Zabuza said with a smirk.

"What can I say," Shouji shrugged. "We're ninjas afterall," was his excuse.

"Hmph, hidden weapon or anything, it will not change the outcome of the battle."

"I agree. The outcome is already decided," both ninjas declared themselves as the would be winner.

Zabuza closed his eyes, feeling that it would be better to discard his blurry vision for the moment. He was used fighting inside thick mist, darkness wasn't much of a problem. The two ninjas, one with closed eyes, and the other one with hitae-ate covered eyes faced each other again. In some way, not relying of sight was an advantage a ninja could have. With it the chance of being caught in genjutsu was lower and the chance of taking harmful substance (i.e chemical liquid/gas, etc.) was lower too. Beside eyes were more easily tricked than other senses. Many ninjas were training to fight without the use of eyes, but not many succeeded.

Mizuki watched the two from afar, her water serpent coiled around her affectionately. She simply petted it as if it was alive. When she saw Sora was leaving she decided to follow his lead. The serpent untangled from her body and followed her like a puppy as she walked away. A pillar of water rose from the ocean as if greeting her. The Leaf-genins were looking at her in shock, their jounins didn't see it as they were too busy looking at Sora. The serpent slithered and joined the water pillar. The host of three-tailed Serpent stepped toward the pillar. The water supported her weight and carried her down to the sea surface below the bridge as if it was an elevator. As she reached the sea surface, there were tendrils of water from beneath her. The tendrils created a cage around her and she simply…melted. The view reminded them of a water clone after it was destroyed.

The sound of metal against metal brought them out of their stupor. The genins watched the brown haired Sky ninja intercepting Zabuza's blade with his dagger. The man lessened his grip on the dagger, causing a widened eyed Zabuza to stumble because he put his weight on the blade.

Shouji shifted his body and kneed Zabuza on his stomach, causing the missing-nin to cough blood. The next thing Zabuza knew was darkness as his opponent brought down the handle of his dagger to his neck.

In slow motion, Haku watched his cousin's comrade twirled his dagger, the sharp part of the weapon was poised to stab his saviour in his spine.

"NOOO!" he created an ice mirror as his last attempt to save his precious person, only to find his opponent threw him away from the mirror. "FINE, I'LL DO WHATEVER YOU WANT! BUT LET HIM GO!" Haku cried out at his cousin in desperation, after he destroyed another of his mirror.

"Good choice."-AT LAST-Haru used his ice mirror and entered it, coming out beside Shouji and blocked the dagger meant for Zabuza, only a mere inch from his exposed neck.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Shouji glowered, not happy to see his 'junior' interrupting his almost finished battle.

"Can't let you kill him. My cousin decided to join Sky if we spare him."

"WHAT?" the ninja shouted incredulously. "That's A-rank bounty waiting in front of my eyes! You can't just steal it!"

"I'll pay you double the payment for his reward, alright?" he grumbled.

"Make it triple and your payment for the next 5 missions you'll take."

"Man, you're doing a hard bargain here," Haru commented to his sempai, groaning.

"Do you agree or not?" Shouji grumbled. "And do you really think Sora-sama will accept him?" he asked skeptically.

"Oh, fine!" he said, annoyed, before he smiled at the second question. "And I'm sure he'll accept. You know how he is," the younger man winked. The eldest son of the second generation Yakimaru clan in Sky muttered something rude. What Shouji didn't know was that Haru would make sure that he would take 5 E or D-rank missions after this. Afterall the older man didn't specify what kind of mission he would take the payment from. Haru laughed inwardly.

"Ok, let's go, my little cousin," Haru grabbed Haku, but the younger boy resisted. "Excuse me, you already promised me that—"

"I know what I promised you, but let me heal Zabuza-san first or he'll bleed to death. There will be no meaning for me to follow you if he died," Haku snapped.

Haru raised his eyebrow. It seemed that his gentle-looking cousin could be temperamental if he wanted to. "…Sure. I'll wait to make sure you don't run away with him."

"A deal is a deal no matter how much I hate it," Haku glowered furiously.

"Uh-huh. Take your time, cousin. Heal him, telling good bye to him, or whatever other things you think you should do first. I don't want to deal with a complaining ninja later which will give me perpetual headache later." Haku sent him a death glare, obviously didn't like to hear it, as if he was a nuisance, before he ran off to help his (now) ex-master.

"I bet you 1000 ryos that he'll create a disturbance of some sort in the village," Shouji walked closer to the relaxed-looking ninja.

"Hm?" the younger-nin sent him his ever playful smile that no longer able to fool any Sky ninja anymore. "What kind of disturbance you're betting on?"

"He'll throw temper tantrum, complaining that he is home sick-pardon me-people sick, and demanded to be released from Sky's ninja rank. I bet that he'll try to create havoc in order to be thrown out."

"If that happened, Sora-sama will throw him out-sorry, I mean: _parts_ of him out. He's not in the right mood these days, especially because of _them_," his eyes looked pointedly toward the ever clueless Konoha ninjas. "He'll not tolerate any ninja, not even if my dear cousin has a truly sob story to back him up."

Shouji nodded in agreement as he winced. An image of a furious Naruto etched on his mind. "So you wanna bet with me or not?"

"Bet with you?" Haru looked at his cousin who was healing Zabuza. "…I think I'll stay out of this one. I'm keeping my money, especially after you had just robbed me of it," he grumbled the last part, causing the other ninja to chuckle.

Meanwhile Tazuna was looking at the corpses on _his_ bridge. He felt uneasy once again and decided to close his eyes so he wouldn't see the horrible view.

"Damn, more corpses and I'm going to name it the Great Bloody Bridge," he said sarcastically. "Better ask someone to clean it up soon."

0-0 0-0 0-0

"Anyway, you Leaf ninjas are expected to get out of this country after the bridge is finished. No sneaking, no peeking," a black haired woman looked up. "Got it, boys?" she stared harshly at the two Leaf jounins. Behind them, Tazuna was looking back and forth between 2 parties while sitting on his living room.

"Actually I don't. According to the law, ninja from other countries could enter a country in which there is a hidden village, as long as they didn't enter the village itself," Kakashi said smugly.

Instead of glaring, Yoshino Narue, the Head of Foreign Affair and sister of Yutsu Raido who was the Head of Investigation and Interrogation, was smirking. Kakashi felt he was missing something. "And _according to the law_, ninjas from other countries could _not_ enter a country or an area, whereas a new hidden village has been just created. The period depended on how long the ruler of said country or area decided on, provided it was no longer than 3 months," she said victoriously. "Check Act 10 Part 3 Paragraph 2 of Black Treaty a century ago for reference," she added as bonus.

The jounins were openly gaping. Was there truly a law like that? But it was such a ridiculous law! No permission to enter a country just because of a village is newly created?

Narue turned to the owner of the house, who was soon gulping when he saw her attention was shifted toward him. "And Tazuna-san, this is a letter from the daimyou in which he wrote off our deal inside and about a new mission for us," Tazuna accepted the letter with shaky hands. He was so nervous to read it, even if the woman who gave it to him was smiling warmly.

The old man read it for minutes before he looked up from the paper in his hands. "He wanted you to help building the bridge?" he asked breathlessly.

The dark green eyed woman smiled. "Indeed. Rokuonji-san wanted it to be finished faster so traders could enter the country soon," she sent a glance at the present ninjas there.

Kakashi and Gai understood the hidden message: that Sky didn't want their presences, so they hastened the construction process, afterall they (as in Leaf ninjas) would have to go away from Wave after the bridge is finished.

"Now I must make myself scarce. I'm still needed in my home. Excuse me," she stood up from her seat and walked to the door. The Copy-nin and Konoha taijutsu specialist looked at each other.

The silver haired-nin coughed to catch her attention, but she ignored it and opened the front door, so he coughed harder.

"You might want to visit apothecary. Getting sick is a problem even for a ninja," she said, obviously mocking him with her clueless act.

"I'm fine, actually. I just want to ask you if it is possible to meet with your leader."

She seemed to think of it for a moment before grinning. "Nope! He's super busy right now and can't leave his job unattended just to meet a few jounins from other village. Ta ta," she closed the door, but opened it once again. "Not to mention he's also highly allergic to you people," she closed it again and this time she left the vicinity.

Kakashi blinked.

Allergic? To them?

Was she trying to tell them something?

"Why are you looking at me like that? I don't even know anything about these people," Tazuna said nervously when the ninjas shifter their attention toward him.

"None at all?"

"Did you think I will hire you if I know those people will take care of Gatou?" he shot back.

"Good point," Gai nodded in agreement. Both ninjas sighed simultaneously. There wasn't much progress with their investigation mission.

0-0 0-0 0-0

"Sakura, do you know anything about Black Treaty?" Kakashi asked his student who seemed to be a bright kunoichi (read: swallowing the whole book and memorizing its content).

"It is a treaty signed by all hidden villages and countries about 123 years ago to make sure the wars of hidden village will not create global chaos that will ruin countries not involved to the war. Many small countries were banded together to force the 5 great hidden villages along with their countries and other smaller ninjas villages/clans and samurai clans to make a treaty of some kind. The Black Treaty is the result."

"There is a law concerning a war?" he asked dumbly, not believing it. Then what about the phrase: all fair and square in a war?

"Well, it's not exactly a law. Just an agreement to make the war more controllable and will not ruin everything. After the Treaty was signed, the war did lessen. The ruined country started to rebuild their cities and villages. The global war before that time was really brutal. Famine, illness, poverty were everyday occurrence. I guess that many people were fed up with it, including those ninjas who were fighting, because there wasn't much objection to the Treaty. With it in place, hidden villages started to flourish once again, as they replenished their missing numbers. There were many skirmishes and fights among hidden villages, but that was normal even until this day, until the second Great War started decades ago. I don't think I need to tell you anything about that war since you've practically lived through it. According to history book, the second Great War wasn't as bad as the first because of the existence of said treaty. Not many wanted to go through the same horrible disaster."

Wow, that was a pretty detailed tale. No wonder she was the best in written part in the academy.

"Do you remember what it contained?"

"Uh sure, why?"

"Do you know what Act 10 Part 3 Paragraph 2 is about?" he asked, ignoring her question.

"Well…Act 10 is about newly created hidden village. How it is created, what are the conditions of creating a hidden village, who has the authority to allow the creation of a hidden village, etc. What's it all about?" she frowned, realizing something was amiss.

The jounin scratched his head and sighed. He decided to tell her _some_ truths. "You know Sky group?"

"Of course. It's a mercenary ninja group without official hidden village who had risen considerably during these 3 years. Those ninjas who fought against Gatou were some of them weren't they? But what's the conne—Wait a minute, are you saying they are trying to create an official home in this country, Kakashi-sensei?" she was putting the puzzle pieces together.

"Apparently so. It seemed the Wave Daimyou agreed to let them make a hidden village in Wave. You can see why I'm curious. One of them had just come to this house, telling us that we had to go back to Konoha after the bridge is finished and not to enter the country for some periods."

"Ah yes, I remember that one. Iruka-sensei told us that during that period no ninja with allegiance to a hidden village was allowed to enter the country or area (which mean a missing-nin is allowed to pass through, but they'll have to take risk of being captured by the ninjas there who are looking for some cash they'll able to get from the bounty)—if the area was big—to protect the new hidden village. A chance to make them stronger, so they have a chance to prosper. Of course many will try to cross the country to investigate or even sabotage. But the village was allowed to kill its offenders during that time without any political repercussion."

"You mean Konoha won't be able to blame them if we're dead because we're overstaying our time here?" Sakura nodded.

Well, damn.

TBC…

Ugh, I'm having trouble with the fic for the battle between Shouji and Zabuza. That's why the update is so late (aside from the fact I was lazing off and not in the mood to write any Naruto fic), though the rest of the chapter is flowing rather easily.

As you can see, Haku and Zabuza didn't die. Originally one of my plans was to kill them off, but because many of you begged me not to do that…Well this is the result. They both are alive, but will be separated. Zabuza can go off as a missing-nin, but Haku will be a Sky ninja. If you don't like that one, that's your own problem, not mine.

Okay, now it's your time to hit the 'submit review' button below.


	18. Chapter Seventeen

Author's Note: Yay, I finish this chapter at last. After days full of playing game (after my computer was being fixed and the field trip was ended), I feel the mood to write this piece.

Oh, and I know that I've been out of circulation for so long (that's the understatement of the year), well, hopefully I'll be able to continue now. Reason? Well there is the exam…and my computer broken down (fucking piece of shit) and it took so long for me to fix it up…and there is of course that field trip for 11 days in which I was unable to access internet at all. Plus there were many new released animes to watch and a new game to play. So yeah…

Below is my rambling, it is up to you if you want to read it or not.

About field trip…did you guys read/watch the news about the earthquake in Jogjakarta/Yogyakarta and Central Java, Indonesia? I was in Poh Sarang Church, Kediri (East Java) at that time. I was on the bus that was parked on the road across the church and thought in annoyance that someone shook the bus by jumping on it or something. Only after I exited the bus was I informed by one of the two professors in charge of the field trip that there was an earthquake. At around 7 a.m. I was phoned by my mother about whether or not I felt earthquake. She felt the earthquake too, and probably stronger there (than in Kediri) because it was in Central Java, and told me that there was an earthquake in Jogja. She knew it from the news on TV. I dismissed the news right away, thinking that it had nothing to do with me and that it was just the usual earthquake, nothing to worry about.

My mother phoned me couple of times afterwards, telling me that there were casualties, 153 people—I believed she said for the first time, although as you know there are thousands found dead. I confirmed the news with my friends who were apparently called by their parents too. Since Jogjakarta would be the last destination for the field trip, we paid much attention on the news (thought it was rather hard, seeing that we had to move from place to places). Apparently, the earthquake caused Mount Merapi (For those who don't know it is an active volcano in Central Java that was on the verge of erupting) to react differently and more erratically. Some parents even told their children to take a plane and went back right away.

It was told to the rest of us by the committees afterwards that actually at first they planned to make Jogja as our destination after Semarang City, the day the earthquake happened. They changed the plan afterwards. Oh well, what was important was that we were averted from the danger of the earthquake. I wasn't up to be a pancake afterall.

In the end we changed our plan because of reasons like Candi Prambanan as one of our destinations was closed down because of the earthquake caused some significant damages on the structures, the hotel we booked up was unable to receive us anymore (because its roof was wrecked), morality reason (a group of kids with their happy-go-lucky attitude running around while many were looking for their relatives?), and fear (do I need to tell you? We're worried for another bout of earthquake or if the emotional people would burn us alive along with the buses because of anger). We had to say goodbye to the money we already paid to the hotel, catering, and other things in the end, but what the hell we're alive so it didn't matter.

About those victims, have you ever wondered why there were so many victims just because of a simple (ok, perhaps not quite simple) 5.9 Richter earthquake?

I mean, excuse me, thousands dead because of a fucking 5.9 R earthquake?

Do you know which area the damage concentrated on? Villages. Places where their citizens didn't think much when they built their homes, as long as they have shelter to protect them from rain or sunlight and for sleeping (reason? money is hard to come by and they need money to buy materials, among other reasons such as using their tendency to use money for decorating their buildings instead of reinforcing the structure). If they built their buildings better, there wouldn't be as many victims as it had.

Man, and after that tragedy there was also another natural disaster like flood in Kalimantan (although it is caused more by human mistakes than natural occurrence). Indonesia really gets many disasters, doesn't it?

Ok, enough of the ramblings and depressing news. Now just read!

**Chapter Seventeen**

The next morning after the battle, the bridge was being cleaned by the Wave citizens. Depression and sadness were gone from their faces, as they washed away the blood energetically…well, as energetic as a starved community could do. The Leaf ninjas were sitting on the bridge, watching them. Some of the genins, Tenten and Lee, offered them helps. All of them were bored since there wasn't anything exciting and they were doing nothing.

"Here," Kakashi handed each of them a mop with one hand, while his other hand was holding his precious book.

"What is this for?" Sakura asked with a frown.

"It's a mop, so it's to mop of course," he said without looking.

"But—"

"Aside from guarding the bridge, helping building the bridge is included on the mission," Kakashi didn't seem happy with the fact, as he wanted longer time to observe the Sky.

"But, oh nevermind," Sakura stomped away with a mop in one hand. Sasuke, Neji, and Hanabi followed her lead. That didn't mean they liked this lame mission.

**Meanwhile in Sky village**

"Hey guys, check this out," Shugo knocked his finger on the announcement board.

"Check what out?" a short-white-haired boy walked toward his friend. "C-rank pays for E-rank mission?" he raised an eyebrow and whistled. "That's good, but it says here that the duration will be for a looong time. I'd rather choose E-rank missions with short duration."

"Yes, but it also says here that it's compulsory," a red haired girl told them.

"WHAT?" the white haired boy didn't seem to be happy. "You've got to be kidding me!"

"If you don't trust me, Yu-kun, why don't you read it yourself?" she huffed.

"Where? I don't see it?" he squinted his eyes in confusion, before he looked up at the girl in suspicion.

"Miki is right," Shugo said. "Here," he pointed at the small notes in the end of the letter.

"What the? Why didn't the ones who created this notice make them…I don't know…bigger?" The others shrugged.

"Short of paper?" Miki suggested, making the boys rolled their eyes.

"Ugh, I can't believe this."

"Come on, let's go to Seiken Tower to see what's up with the mission," Shugo told them as his eyes read the meeting time in the announcement.

Halfway to the tower they saw Yukito's (as in Yu-kun) father was talking with Haru. The black haired-nin had someone unfamiliar with him.

"DAD!" Yukito ran toward his father, Shugo and Miki followed. The boy was clutching his father's leg, much to Kimimaro's exasperation. He petted his son's head and noticed the man Haru brought with him was eyeing them with a strange expression. "Can you train me today, please?" Yukito asked with his best puppy dog eyes expression, oblivious at the look sent toward him by the black haired stranger.

"Alright. Tonight or tomorrow. I have things to do right now," the boy pouted, but nodded at his dad. Then he noticed the stranger. "Who's he?" Shugo and Miki looked at him in question too.

"He's my cousin," Haru said with a soft smile.

"Eh, but I thought your mother said that her other family was wiped out?" Shugo blurted out.

"Well, that was what she thought. It seemed that my _dear_ cousin here is alive. I just met him yesterday and planned to make him as the newest Sky citizen," the blond haired kid noted that Haru's cousin was scowling when he said it.

"He didn't seem to be happy about it though," Shugo commented.

"And kind of gloomy," Yukito nodded in agreement. Inwardly Kimimaro was sighing. Couldn't they keep their mouth shut? The one they were talking about was currently a meter in front of him.

"Yeah," Miki agreed with her friends.

"See that, cousin? Even the kids agree with me," Haru said cheekily. "Woah, woah, no need to get violent, he threw his hands in a mock surrender when Haku clenched his fist and glared.

"Don't you have anything else to do?" Yukito's father asked the genins in an attempt to get rid of them.

"Well, we're planning to go to Seiken Tower. To see what's up with the recent mission, you see. Compulsory and all."

"Let's go together then," Haru said. "I myself was planning to go to your father's office," he said to Shugo.

"Sure," the kids shrugged and went with Haru and his cousin, while Kimimaro followed them.

**Seiken Tower**

They entered the administrative building. Haru brought Haku with him to the highest level of the tower, while the genins went to the mission center.

"Hey guys," the three whipped their head and saw a brown haired genin was heading toward them.

"Ryoga!" Shugo greeted his friend. "What're you doing here?"

"Well, I was reading the mission lists in my laptop, to see if I can find a mission with good pay when I got message from the administration about a genin compulsory mission. I want to see just what's up with this mission."

"Come one, we want to do the same too," the one-way glass door opened automatically when they reached the room. Two blue haired young ninjas looked up from their seats in the waiting room.

"Hey guys!" the short haired one waved at them cheerfully, while the long haired one merely smiled softly. The two had identical face, telling others that they were twins.

"Noa-chan!" Miki greeted her female short haired friend and hugged her. "Towa-kun!" Noa's male twin nodded. "You guys want to know about that compulsory mission too?" the two nodded simultaneously.

"Yup, obviously. We've just arrived here. The others already went to the briefing room. The briefing will start in 10 minutes, or so according to the announcement. Want to go in?" Noa asked. They looked at each other and nodded.

"Sure. Which room?"

"Advis (audio-visual) studio 02," they walked to the stairs and walked toward the briefing room. When they entered it, there were already many other genins and even some civilians. No one paid them attention when they entered. Every one was busy talking with the people around them to notice their silent entrance.

One particular genin noticed them thought. The black haired girl patted her blond haired friend in the shoulder and whispered to him. The blonde genin turned around and noticed them too. He gave the group a smile and gestured them to join his group.

"Thanks for this," the blond haired genin threw Ryoga a silver flash disk.

"Does it work?" the older genin nodded with a smirk.

"It's working. At a rate I've never thought of, even," he complimented the brown haired boy. Ryoga's smile went wider. "There is some bugs on the system and other problems, but at least we can manage for now."

The others were looking back and forth between them, not understanding what they were talking about.

"What are you talking about?" Shugo asked confusedly. Although the other didn't voice it, they had the same question hanging on their minds.

"Ryoga here is working on a simulation program," the others rolled their eyes at the two techno geeks, but stopped short when they heard what he said next, "It's kinda like a ninja game, actually."

"A ninja game?" the black haired girl that patted the blond genin before, asked her friend.

"Yeah, it's a project that we, as in Netto, his brother, and I are working on for half a year …actually there are several other people that helped us. I worked on the program, while they built the simulation room and the others gave us materials or ideas," Ryoga adjusted his glasses.

"Simulation room? Why do I have the feeling that it's not the usual simulation?" Shugo asked, knowing that there was no way they, the trio techno geeks, spent half a year on a normal simulation project.

"Of course it's not the usual simulation," Netto, the blond haired genin, seemed offended by the remark. "It's a virtual reality game, not just a normal game. Every one can make a normal game," he said hotly.

"We use the latest technology Yugo-sama developed," Ryoga's and Netto's eyes glazed when he talked about their idol, earning them some exasperated rolling eyes. "And we try to create the virtual reality system based from it."

"Just how does it work anyway?" Miki asked, intrigued.

"You know how genjutsu works right?" they all nodded.

"Well, it basically has the same principal. This tool—" he took out something from his backpack. It was a visor, though it had some differences from the usual visors they used to check their environment. The optic was jet black, not transparent, making the one who wore it would be unable to see. "—Will manipulate your chakra in the brain and create images, depending on the program. Unlike watching movie, in which you're just a spectator, it will allow you to be a participator."

"It doesn't sound too different from a normal game, except they don't use joy stick (or is it joint stick? Blah)," Yukito commented.

Ryoga and Netto tsked simultaneously and waved their fingers mockingly. "Don't underestimate us! It is _very _different! Normal game doesn't make the situation realistic and you definitely will not be hurt by it, so there won't be much you'll learn from it."

"And I guess that _this_ device will be able to do that?" Yukito asked skeptically. And he didn't like the sound of being harmed by a friggin' game no less.

"Of course. As you've heard this will be able to manipulate your brain and create images based from your memory. When the system sends projection of wind for example, the brain will recognize and thus will use its own memory of how wind is blowing. Or we can easily create the image by the device's memory that we already get about the pain…as you already know, nerves send messages to the brain if it is wounded, but using this device will make us able to reroute the messages from brain to nerves instead of the other way around," Ryoga explained enthusiastically. 'At least that's the idea. The system is only 65 percent finished and we can only go so far without victim—er…guinea pi—er…volunteer, yes, volunteer,' he thought, eyeing the others with a weird glint that unconsciously made them take a step back.

"It can be used for torturing then?" the Sky leader's son asked.

"What?" Ryoga was snapped out of his mind when Shugo questioned him. "Oh, yes, it can. Definitely," before he succumbed to the glazy eyes once again. An odd smile adorned his face.

"It doesn't look like a _room_ to me," Miki eyed the small device, hoping to take her friend's mind away from…whatever he was thinking about.

"That's because this is only a part of it. It's not stable enough to be used alone," unfortunately Ryoga was still out in La-La land, so it was Netto who answered her question. "We haven't been able to stuff all systems on it alone yet, not enough memory and if we force it, it will be so god damn slow and kind of…eh…explode because of some complications we've yet to find," the genins quickly stepped back at once. "Honestly, it's not going to explode," he rolled his eyes, brushing his blonde bangs out of his eyes. 'At least for now since it's not switched on,' he added in his mind. They threw him skeptical glances.

"Hey guys, it's started." Shugo pointed at a jounin who had just entered the room with a middle aged dark brown haired man.

"Alright, I believe you have come here in order to find out about the compulsory mission for you genins," the green haired jounin said, earning him mutters of 'Obviously.' "My name is Hamada Yusaku and the man beside me is Kudoshi Akito. He's a civilian and is the one who will supervise you all." Many blinked at this.

A civilian to supervise them all? They already knew that it was an important mission but still lame enough to force the admin department to make it into a compulsory mission (because if it isn't a lame mission there will be people interested and they won't need to find people to do the mission and they won't make it a compulsory mission if it isn't necessary). But a civilian? Although their forces had to be spread thin to manage Gatou's former business, they weren't _that_ short-handed to ask him to supervise the genins, were they?

"As you have heard Hamada-san, my name is Kudoshi Akito. I'm sure that some of you already know of me and because of that able to guess what the mission is about. To cut story short, I'm the one behind several constructions of our bases all over the continent and I was chosen as the leader of this mission for that. Unfortunately the numbers of my men aren't sufficient. The mission is for all of you genins to help me and my men build our village in Fune Island as it would be our important official trade route with outside community, followed by Koori Island. And we'll dispatch a third of genin force to help with the construction of several vital buildings for Wave, such as hospitals, bridges, and other public service buildings. Any question?"

"But we know nothing about how to build a building!" someone protested.

"My men will show you the way."

"What about our practice time?" another cried out.

"You have a shift of 5 hours each day for this mission. How you spend the rest of your time isn't my business."

"Are civilians allowed to take this mission?" a black haired civilian teen who was looking for quick cash asked.

"Yes, they are allowed to take it, though it's not compulsory for them. Mind you that it's a long term mission though, so perhaps it will be better if you just take short term E-rank missions rather than take this mission," he warned the civilians on the room.

"When will the mission start?"

"Two days from now."

"What about food and drink?" a plump genin asked him.

"We'll provide them, don't you worry about that," the genin nodded, satisfied.

"What about the Leaf's genin teams?" Shugo narrowed his eyes. He heard about them when his father met with the other departments head in their home.

"About that…" Kudoshi glanced at his jounin escort.

Hamada stepped forward and took over. "You'll do nothing to provoke them," he told them sternly.

"But what if they do it first?"

"Defend yourself and record it or something, so we'll have evidence against them. Escaping them will be better option if they decide to attack you, but do not retaliate aside from defending yourself. We need not needless fight." The genins in the room didn't seem to like hearing it and grumbled among themselves. "Any other question?" Silence was his answer. "Kudoshi-san," he stepped back to allow the Sky's architect to take over.

"Alright the mission goes like this. We'll build a warehouse and trading ground in Fune. We won't build any shop or something like that for now there, because as you already knew we're short handed. And when I said 'we', it meant the people needed to be as merchants or traders. There was no point to build shops when there will be no occupants. In Koori, we'll also build vital buildings only. Private houses or something like that will be handled by the house's owners themselves. If they decide to ask about help or something, it will be another E-rank mission for you. We're also allowed to use 5 adult sharns to help with the construction in Wave," there was hushed conversations coming from the genins, as they looked at each other uncertainly. To use sharns just as they took over…They were wondering if it was a wise move to let others know the existence of Sky's guards this soon.

"Shugo, did you know something about this?" Yukito asked the dumbfounded boy. Said boy shook his head.

"No, I heard nothing from my dad."

"That proves that being the son of the leader doesn't mean you own this village," a spiky haired boy sneered at him. Shugo's friends scowled at the red haired genin.

"Hazeda," Shugo greeted, causing a frown marred the green eyed boy.

"Oh, it's just Hazeda," Yukito said mockingly.

"Stay out of it, Kaguya. I have no business with you," he snarled.

"Unfortunately I have to accompany my friend here when he takes a business trip with you," the white haired boy hissed in reply.

"Mou, stop it, both of you! Yu-kun! Kazu-kun!" Miki cut them.

"Why didn't you call _his_ name?" Kazuhi protested, a hand on his hip.

"Because Shugo-kun didn't start it, and obviously he didn't spout something to offend you!" she bit out. "Why did you always act hostile against him anyway? You practically worship his father!"

"Che, that doesn't mean I like _him_," he pointed at Naruto's son. "He was so annoying and infuriating!"

"You sounded as if you're jealous of him," Ryoga adjusted his glasses. A rare odd smirk adorned his face.

"W-what?" Kazuhi spluttered. "Why should I feel jealous of him?"

"You need not to deny it. People say that denial isn't healthy," Kazuhi growled angrily at the red haired girl. Miki simply giving him a mocking smile.

"Hey, that group over there, shut up!" Hamada called out in annoyance, feeling they were disturbing the meeting. With a scowl and one last dark look at Naruto's second child, Kazuhi walked back to his seat and sat among his friends who viewed the clash in silence as they shook their heads in exasperation, not wanting to partake in the ridiculous fight, which wasn't their business.

"Great, Mr. Asshole had just made him scold us," Yukito grumbled. The white haired boy gave Kazuhi his middle finger in annoyance. "Ne, Shugo, you should've punched him or something!"

"I don't see the need. If he wanted to make a fool of himself, I won't complain. It is better to just leave him alone."

"If we leave him alone, he will be bolder and more annoying. And who knows, I won't be surprised if he turns into a traitor," Yukito growled, narrowing his eyes at the sight of the short-red haired boy.

"He won't be a traitor. The seal won't allow it. Beside he's too smitten with dad," he looked around him when the others around him shifted. "What's wrong?"

"Smitten…that just sounds…wrong," Yukito made a face, followed by others.

"Fine, idolize then."

"That's better," the others nodded in agreement. The group sighed and shifted their attention back to the problem at hand: the fucking E-rank C-pays mission.

**Naruto's office**

Naruto was stuck with a pile of paperworks in his office. He sighed when he saw it. Ever since the Take Over, there were many paperworks needed to be looked over. And unfortunately he couldn't let the Administration department to sort it out. He needed to make sure there would be no screw up or Sky would have trouble in the future, since it was still sensitive matter at the moment. He had finished half of them and he still had another half to be read.

He needed a god damn break.

As if answering his hope, his communicator beeped.

"What is it?" he asked, knowing his assistants wouldn't use communicator when they usually entered the office to give or take paperwork on his office.

#_Kaguya-san and Kishida-san are here. They brought a stranger with them_# came the report.

"Let them enter." Naruto wondered just who they brought with them. Pushing a blue pad on his table, the door opened. The Sky leader looked impassively at the newcomers. "Kimimaro, Haru-kun," he nodded at his ninjas. "And you are?" he eyed him from head to toe. If his memory served him right, this young man was one of Gatou's men that he intended to betray aling with Zabuza—at least that was according to the report of the ninjas that had infiltrated Gatou's base—now used as one of Sky's checkpoints. What was he doing here? And for that matter why was he still alive?

"My cousin, Haku," Haru told him.

"I thought your mother said that her other family was wiped out?" Naruto frowned, unknowingly saying the same thing his son did, causing Haru and Kimimaro looked at each other amusedly.

"It seemed that her sister had been able to escape and lived to give birth to my little cousin here," the black haired-nin explained.

"Hmm…alright, I understand now. So you're hoping to make him as our new resident?" the blonde leader put his chin on his hands.

"Exactly, Naruto-sama," Haku was silent, simply listening his cousin and the man he had seen on the bridge who was apparently their leader, talking.

"He doesn't seem to be happy about that," Shugo's father pointed out. Haru only gave him a small smirk, causing him to sigh. "Fine, fine. You can leave now. I want to talk with him alone."

"…As your wish, Naruto-sama," a reluctant Kimimaro followed Haru exiting the office.

"Haku, isn't it?" the young man nodded slowly, eyes never leaving the blond. "Relax, I'm not going to attack you or something. So I presume that Haru forced you to be one of us?" he nodded again. "Speak clearly, don't use body language. It's considered impolite," he scolded the younger man.

"Yes, he did," he quickly spoke. Naruto nodded happily. "My name is Kazama Naruto or Kazama Sora outside this village," Haku blinked at the second name, but didn't say anything. "I'm, as you already know, the leader of Sky village. Can you tell me how your cousin…persuade you?"

"Zabuza-sama won't be killed if I join your village," he answered.

"Hm…I understand. So what do you want to be in this village?"

"…I'm afraid I don't understand," Haku frowned in confusion.

"What career do you want to be here? A ninja? A farmer? A researcher? A healer? Blacksmith? Trader? Musician perhaps?" Haku eyed him as if he was crazy. "Haru didn't tell you that you have to be a ninja, did he?" Naruto raised his eyebrow.

"…No. He only said that he wanted me to become part of your village," Haku said in realization. He had presumed that his cousin wanted him to be a ninja too, since he was already a ninja.

"And as you know, a hidden village isn't consisted of ninjas only. If I may ask, Haku-san, do you know where you are currently?"

"Sky village?" he asked in confusion. That was where he was, right?

"I mean, do you know where it is located?"

"I don't know. My cousin knocked me out and when I opened my eyes, I was already here, wherever it was."

Naruto put a finger on his forehead and closed his eyes, before he sighed. "I'll tell you about this village later, but for now, let's just tell me what you want to be, shall we?"

"I…I'd like to be both healer and ninja, if I can."

"So you want to be a medic-nin," Naruto stated and stood up from his seat, causing Haku to stiffen, as Naruto walked toward him. "Give me your left arm," he took out his hand. Haku lifted his arm hesitantly, wondering what he would do. "It will sting a bit," was his only warning before red chakra filled the room. Haku was frozen in his seat when he felt the malevolent chakra. The blonde haired man focused some chakra on his finger tip and touched a spot on his left arm, causing the black haired young man to hiss in pain. The air between his fingertip and Haku's skin rippled like water. Naruto sank his finger on it and drew it again 2 seconds later. "It hurts more for older person," Naruto told him. "An infant will feel no pain at all." The skin Naruto had touched had a change. There was a blue spiral moving on the younger man's skin, before it stopped and settled into a blue fox's head tattoo with three tails.

"W-what is it?" Haku stammered. Naruto pricked his finger and placed his blood on the fox's head. The tattoo glowed for a moment and Haku felt a sensation he couldn't describe washed over him.

"There now, it's finished. It is a sign. All of Sky citizens have it. It can be used to aid in communicating among us, but it can be used to deal with traitor too."

"What do you mean, Kazama-san?" Haku asked, frowning,

"Call me Naruto or Sora if you wish. Have you ever heard about Hyuuga's branch seal, Haku?" a shaking head was his answer. "Hyuuga is one of Konoha's ninja clans. They have doujutsu bloodline called byakugan. I assume you have seen two members of Leaf teams that had clear eyes with no pupil?" Haku nodded. "They're from that clan. Their eyes have the ability to see 360 degree, quite a feat don't you think so, coupled with the fact it has the ability to see human' tenketsus, they will make quite an enemy, don't you think so?" he nodded again, but still didn't understand what he wanted by telling him this.

"Their family is separated into 2 parts. The main family and the branch one. The main family is the leader, while the branch family is what you can say as the servant. There are some hostile feelings from the branch family but they can do nothing to the members of main family because they have a bird cage seal on their forehead. The main family can punish them using this seal and causing them considerate pain and can even kill them. Now when a Hyuuga branch member died, the seal will also erode the bloodline in the body, so no ninja can find the secret of these eyes. It doesn't happen to the main family and so there is an incident in which Cloud tried to kidnap the heir of Hyuuga some years ago, although it failed. What I want to tell you is that this seal has some similar properties with Hyuuga's seal, but instead of reacting manually, although it can be done, it will act automatically. The moment you decide to betray us will be your end. The other difference is that it gives some benefits unlike byakugan. Your chakra will be boosted and as I had said before, it can be used to aid to communicate among our members. So as long as you don't betray us, you'll be perfectly fine. I'll ask—"

"Dad, why didn't you tell me about that compulsory mission?" Shugo barged into the office with Yukito on tow. Miki wasn't with them because she already went home. The boys both blinked when they saw Haru's cousin with him. "Did we interrupt something?" he asked worriedly, thinking that perhaps he should ask one of the assistants to tell his father they were coming in, instead of bypassing the security (passwords, sound checker, etc) himself.

"Perfect timing, son. This is Haru's cousin, our new resident. Why don't you tell him about our village?" Naruto smiled when he saw his son.

"What? But—"

"I'll tell you everything you want to know about the mission tonight at home." Shugo scowled, but nodded nonetheless. He motioned Haku to follow him.

"So you're the son of the leader of this village?" Haku braved himself to ask the question after they were outside the office. The boy nodded.

"May I see your seal?" Shugo asked and greeted his father's assistants. Haku lifted his sleeve and allowed Shugo and Yukito to examine it. "So you want to be a medic-nin, huh?"

"How do you know?" Haku dropped his sleeve.

"The blue color. It indicates that you're from health provisions. Three tails indicates that your rank is genin, so you're a medic-nin. For information, blue means health department, red is special squad or elite, green means administrative, black means investigation/interrogation, purple means infiltration/ assassination, brown means researcher or teacher or librarian, white can be anything other than that. Genins usually only has 2 colors, whether it is white or blue. Civilians and academy students usually have yellow color. The color of the fox's eyes also different among ninjas to tell apart their divisions. While for non-shinobi it will be the color of the tip of the tails. You see this?" Shugo lifted his sleeve. "I have 3 tails, meaning that I'm a genin. And since I have white color means I'm not a medic-nin. The silver eyes though, telling that I'm a relative of the leader. People with two colors means that they have at least 2 different jobs in 2 different departments."

"There are many ranks," Yukito decided to help a bit. "One tail means that they're either civilians or academy student, though ninja student has white color on the tip of the tail to differ them from normal children. Two tails means that they're civilians whose job are related with ninjas, like blacksmith, healer, sharns caretaker, librarian, researcher, etc. Three tails means genin. Four tails is chuunin. Five tails is jounin. Six tails is anbu (ansatsu butai) or hunter-nin. Seven tails is Shugo's father's personal guard. Eight tails means the head of department. While nine tails is the leader of the village, which means Naruto-sama himself," Haku was trying to absorb the information in one go. "Understand so far?"

"…I think so," actually he didn't.

"Don't worry, you'll understand it soon enough after awhile," Yukito told him. Shugo nodded in agreement.

"Wait, what is sharns caretaker?"

"Oh, sharns is the short term for sharn'gotti. They're demonic birds that we used as partners."

"Demonic birds?" Haku gulped, wondering if there was something wrong with his hearing.

Both boys nodded. "You'll soon get one of the eggs. It is your job to take care of them until they are grown enough to help you. You can use them as bird courier, though it isn't recommended after they reached adulthood. They'll be too big to be a courier bird across the world. There is no meaning if enemy can see them. On the other hand, you can use the bird as transport bird and the bigger they are the more they can transport. Stronger sharns also will be able to help you to attack enemies better. Sharns caretaker is the term of people whose job is to take care the wild sharns, that is the term for sharns that can be used by any Sky citizen as it has no fixed master except my father and Sheil're who is the boss of the sharns in this world. If you think that having a pet is too tedious you can always decline the caretaker's offer. We really need them to transport us from this village though, because we humans can't fly like them. And unless you want to plummet to your death it is recommended that you have the ability to ride them on your own instead of asking help from sharns rider."

"What do you mean with 'plummet'? Is this place located on a steep mountain?" the blonde and white haired boys looked at each other amusedly before they laughed out loud. "Did I say something wrong?" he asked in confusion.

"No. It's just that Soragakure isn't located in mountain or anything like that. It is located in the sky, on hikousekis, the hovering islands."

"You have got to be kidding me!" Haku couldn't stop himself from shouting in disbelief.

"It's true. We're not joking. You should see it later, but for now let's register first," they entered the mission center. Haku who was too busy to notice the technology this village had before was now marveling on it. Doors opened automatically, unheard security measures… It was like he was in another world. They went to the registry division and saw a man was currently writing in a paper form, while his wife was holding their newborn baby.

"A form for new resident, please," Shugo asked the clerk woman.

"Newborn or newly joint?" she asked.

"Newly joint," Shugo said. She gave him the form, which in turn he gave to Haku. "Answer the questionnaires," Shugo gave him a pen, instead of a brush. Haku felt weird using it. He finished completing the form after 15 minutes, asking his guides questions once in awhile when he didn't understand the questions. He was also asked to stay on his spot as a hovering device checked him from head to toe, checking his voice, his cornea, etc. To say that he was nervous was an understatement.

"Thank you. Wait a moment, please," she accepted the form and started to type in the computer. Shugo brought him to sit on the empty cushions on the room. Forty minutes later he was called. He received a key card from the clerk, along with a thick manual guide. "Your new home will be Peach Apartment no. 304. we had already told the manager of the building to expect you," she told him about his new house arrangement and gave him the map of the island, complete with the location of his apartment and vital buildings. "You'll be expected to pay 15 ryo each month, but you don't need to pay it for the next 2 months. It's free for your first 2 months, but you'll have to pay for your own food after 10 days." She gave him a voucher for 10 days free meal in a restaurant nearby his new house. "If you decide to have a change of address, please alert us. The key card can be used as your identity card and also to open locked places, depending on your clearance level. Ask the genin center for your schedule and mission. Anything else can be found on the manual guide or you can ask others." Haku thanked her and exited the room with the other two.

Shugo led the clueless young man to the Genin Center to arrange his schedule.

"So you want to be a medic-nin?" Haku nodded. "Which one you prefer, poison or herbs?"

"Eh?"

"Just answer it?"

"Er…herbs, but I'd like to learn about poison too," the male clerk looked at him for a moment before he nodded. "Any weapon preference?"

"Senbon."

"Are you proficient on it?" Haku nodded. The man asked more questions in which Haku quickly answered. Shugo and Yukito chatted lazily as they watched Haku was interrogated. After 35 minutes full of questions the man told Haku to wait there and walked away. Minutes later, the clerk was back with his hands full of books. He put the books on the table. "This will be your reference books and this is your schedule for lessons under Raishin-san," he gave him a paper sheet. She's a medic-nin who works in the hospital in her spare time and also gave lesson for newly initiated medic-nin. Ask the hospital for her presence. The price of the books will be cut down from your mission payment…unless you want to pay it in cash?" Haku shook his head. "Ask the clerk in weapon department for your weapons and other equipments in Raguna Tower. Of course you can always buy them from the blacksmiths in town yourself, but you have to pay them in cash. Beside you can always search for newly invented weapons on Raguna Tower. For a new resident though, you can get a set of standard ninja weapons for free. Have a nice day."

"I think we should go to your apartment first to dump the books," Shugo suggested when he saw the pile of books. Haku nodded in agreement. Yukito whistled to call his sharns.

"May I introduce you to my sharns, Katarie," an eagle-sized sharn'gotti settled on the white haired boy's shoulder. The grayish black feathered bird crowed and flapped its wings. Yukito took an almost invisible string from his weapon pouch and used it to tie the books.

"Are you sure it can handle all of the books' weight?"

"I'm sure. It has been tested by the Weapon and Technology Department and could handle up to 500 kg. Neat invention, don't you think?" Haku could only nod dumbly. Not wanting to hurt his pet's talons, Yukito put sharns' clips to the string, where the bird could put its talons on (the string is so thin and can cut the talon because of the tension). "Tarie, can you bring this for us?" Haku at first thought he was crazy to ask an eagle-sized bird to lift a pile of books, but dropped his jaw later when it didn't seem to have a problem with the weight. Yukito who noticed his look, chuckled. "They're strong creatures, don't you think so?" their guest nodded slowly in disbelief.

Shugo and Yukito led him to his supposed apartment, telling him about buildings around them and their uses, restaurant with delicious food or cheap, the district of the city and the way Sky citizens live. It was a day full of surprise for Haku who saw many new things and unthinkable.

The biggest of hikousekis is this island, shiyouseki, the main island. Other islands are used for training grounds, farming grounds, industries, etc. Perhaps tomorrow we can give you a tour…By the way since you're a genin, does that mean you have to do that mission too?"

"What mission?" he asked questioningly.

"Well, we had just heard it today too. Basically we have to take E-rank mission 5 hours a day for undetermined amount of time. We're instructed to help constructing buildings in Wave," Haku didn't seem to be comfortable with that. He was one of Gatou's former hired men before and thus was partially responsible for its poor state. "What's wrong?" Haku shook his head.

"It's nothing," the boys shrugged and continued with their job as a guide.

"Suit yourself. Ah, that's your apartment!" Shugo pointed at a five-stories building. It actually looked nice. There was a wide balcony, and if he had a rough guess, a small but useful garden on each apartment, judging from the greenery he saw, which he could use to plant herbs. "Well, the building is built for ninjas, and most ninjas need big outdoor room, so it has big balcony," he answered Haku who asked him about the wide balcony. "We can just jump to third story, but you need to meet with the manager first. He'll be able to help you settle down there." And so they entered the building via the main entrance.

They met the manager soon enough and the brown haired civilian gave him a set of keys for his new house. "Please come with me," he led them to room 304 and showed Haku the way to open the door. "The man placed his thumb on a blank screen hid behind a gray colored metal lid and typed something on the pad. "Place your thumb here, please, and make sure they're clean, so it will have the correct fingerprint," he said. Awkwardly, Haku complied. "Now, please enter a set of 6 numbers that you will have to remember," after he did it, he asked for his ID card and slashed the card on card checker. Soon, a picture of Haku's face and name appeared on the what-was once a blank screen. "You're registered for this room now. Now to open this door, press the big red button on the pad, after that you'll just have to follow the procedure."

Haku put his thumb like the writing in the screen instructed him and then entered the set of numbers he had set in before. He then slashed his ID card, but there was no reaction. "You get the wrong side," the manager pointed out amusedly, causing him to blush in embarrassment. He did it again, and this time it worked. The door slid open.

The sharns put down the books on the empty living room. "As you can see the living room is empty with no furniture. This is the address of the place where you can buy your furniture. The water, gas, and electricity are already taken care of. The set of keys are used for the cupboards and the door for the rooms in this place. You have 2 bedrooms with their furniture and a kitchen. I'm afraid that I can't tell you more right now as I have an appointment at the moment. This guide will help you and if you have any question please direct it to the receptionist," the man bowed and went back to his place.

"Do you have any luggage with you, Haku-san?" Yukito asked the older boy who immediately shook his head. Both boys sighed. "Come on, you can leave the exploring later. We have to get your clothes and other things first," they practically dragged the black haired boy with them.

0-0 0-0 0-0

Later that night, Haku was found laying on his bed, contemplating his day. His guides brought him to Raguna Tower to get his weapon set. Haku was looking at the various kinds of senbon on the display, but knew that he couldn't waste his money on it right now. Sure he had some money (10 ryo) with him (he had given most of the money to Zabuza before he was brought to Sky village), but he had to buy other much urgent necessities, like food and clothes for example (although his guides told him he wouldn't have to worry about food as long as he could hunt and cook), so he only bought 2 boxes full of standard senbon.

He was dragged to the clothes store later, where he was given a set of standard ninja wardrobes for free when he showed them his ID card (apparently the registry division told his name to the seller), but have to buy normal clothes on his own, though thankfully the shopkeeper gave him a discount for being a new resident.

Haku yawned and stretched his muscles. It was a tiring day and he needed rest. He wondered how Zabuza's current condition was. Although he liked this place, he still missed his savior. The bell rang, causing him to sit up on his bed. He wondered who it was. With another yawn he walked to the front door. He froze when he opened the door.

"Hiya, cousin!" Haru greeted him cheerfully. "Mind if I come in?" Haku slammed the door in front of his face. Haru's smile became wider. "Arara?" he knocked the door, but Haku didn't open it, so he rang the bell. It wasn't until his fourth attempt that his younger cousin opened the door with an irritated face.

"What.Do.You.Want?" he asked grouchily.

"Well, since I'm your cousin and your neighbor I think it is a good idea to visit you and invite you for dinner. My mother was ecstatic when she heard about you. Unfortunately you weren't at home when she visited you."

"…My neighbor?" he asked with dread.

"Yup! We live across you," the green eyed anbu pointed at room 305. Haku immediately swore.

"You have got to be kidding me!"

Haru chuckled. "Don't you know that the registry division chose this place because you're my relative? By the way, you should put your card into a necklace, so you won't forget to bring it," he advised. "Come on, mom's waiting for us."

"Hold a second! I haven't said that I agree to it."

"You don't want to meet your aunt?"

_No if she's as obnoxious as you_, Haku wanted to say but clamped his mouth. "Fine, but that doesn't mean I like you."

"Don't worry, little cousin. Although you're pretty for a guy, I'm straight. Beside you're not my type," he ducked to avoid Haku's punch. "Bring your ID card with you or else you won't be able to enter your room after you lock the door."

Haku sighed as he watched his older cousin opened his unlocked door. It seemed that he would meet another of his living relative, after all.

"Zabuza-san, I miss you already," Haku mumbled before he followed his cousin.

**TBC…**

I use Haku to introduce some aspects of Soragakure for you. Hope you like it. Don't expect it to be a fic full of actions, kay? Sure there will be actions that I'm sure you'll like here, but I think my other fics can satisfy your need of action.

Do you think I'm overboard with explaining the village to you? If you think so, then I'm sorry. But I have many ideas running on my mind about Sky village and I want to describe it as good as I can. It was fun to imagine what kind of village it will be. How the system is, the architecture of the buildings, type of the clothes, how the village is ran, the various divisions it has, etc. It's like playing simulation game. I like a construction/building game than a battle game, so I guess it kinda influence this fic.

I like creating new things that aren't there on the real stories. If you know me, you'll realize that I made many new things for my stories. Like kitsubo and the demon world system in **Ashura, the silver fox demon**; Potter's castle and its system in **Unforgivable Betrayal**; the life of the rangers and many OCs in **HP and the rangers**; Harry's life story plus Zeus, the lightning sword, in **Stranded**; and many other smaller things in various other fics. But of course you can notice this tendention of mine easily in this fic. So many OC characters, a new village, and an original idea to boot (hey, I think I can be proud of myself for once. I'm actually quite surprised when it seemed that many of you like this fic, because I didn't get many response for my first few chapters for this fic, but still continued it anyway because I like it and didn't care if the others didn't like it)

Of course there is also my bad habit of repeating the same things over and over…

For those who wait for Lack of Motivation…I got lazy to move my writing in the papers to the computer (cough). I also created a new HP story (I already wrote 3 chapters), but I think I'll keep it to myself until much later, so no one will complain about me not finishing up my other fics. Bweh.

Okay, I'll wait for you reviews. Flames are ignored, but critiques are appreciated (but don't make it too harsh). No need to critique about my grammar though. I already knew it. Unfortunately not many betas like to edit chapters that are already put on the website (and since I am too impatient to wait them to finish editing and _only_ after then uploading it to the site…well, you already know now he…3x)

Soon I'll update the List of Characters by putting a new category: Appearance. I'll write in which chapters the character can be seen. Hopefully I won't miss anything. And if I have the time, I'll write List of Places in which I'll describe the places in Soragakure fic in details and/or List of Terms (since there are so many new terms I created on this fic. I'd like to create the village etched in my mind using 3D, but I don't have the skill to make something like that and I'd like to create a website for my own use in which I can put the pictures I have made for my characters, but again, I have no skill for that nor money.

**Next:** Sky genins meet Leaf genins. Tension, anyone? More about Sky and its planning. Kakashi's attempts to dig information about Sky. And many more (hopefully).


	19. Chapter Eighteen

Author's Note: Whew, finished at last! If any of you want to know news about my fics, you can see my profile. I often update it.

**Chapter Eighteen**

Kudoshi Akito and his assistant were walking down the bridge to search for Tazuna. He spotted the old man was talking at a worker. He walked toward him, ignoring the wary eyes, and tapped Tazuna's shoulder.

"Tazuna-san?" he called. The bridge builder eyed him warily.

"Yes?"

"My name is Kudoshi Akito from Sky. Can we talk?" the man put down his straw hat and nodded, albeit hesitantly.

"Of course," Kakashi was looking at them, as he and Gai were supervising their genins, wondering who he was. "So what do you want to talk about?"

"We've decided to send a third of our genins to help you with the construction. We'll concentrate on the bridge first. If you want to build hospitals or other vital buildings, we'll help too after that. We only have one wish. We want you to help us building a bridge to connect the Fune Island to the main island and a pier. The island will be our trading ground. Two third of our genins will be deployed for our own projects."

"…thank you," he didn't know anything else to say.

"It's nothing. We'll need this bridge as much as you need it anyways. The genins will depart here in an hour…since we haven't received any material we asked for our own projects yet, all of our genins will be at your disposal until the time we need them." Tazuna nodded dumbly. He then looked at the pile of papers that Akito's assistant brought curiously. "Oh, that's our sketch plans. I have talked with Daimyou Daidouji and he had agreed with it. Want to take a look?" Without waiting for his answer, Akito took a paper scroll from the pile and opened it.

Tazuna watched the drawing plan and listened to the brown haired man. Based on them, he knew that the Sky would build an artificial island on the route between Fune and main island—How? It was still remained to be seen and Akito didn't tell him. The small island would be used as their out post to check up the merchants.

"What are they?" he pointed at the many dots drawn around the Sky territory.

"Lighthouse," he simply answered.

"You need these many?" Inari's grandfather was baffled at the numbers.

"No, I just draw the possible spots for the lighthouses. We won't use all of them. The lighthouses will be used as guard posts too."

'Damn, aren't these people too paranoid for their own good?' Tazuna wondered before he waved it off as hidden villages' quirk. "Why is the section of this bridge made out of metal?"

"So we can retract it whenever we want. That way people won't be able to cross using the bridge incase there is an invasion. They have to go through the ocean if they want to reach the islands and our people are quite proficient in Water jutsu, which will give us an advantage," Akito explained.

"Retract the bridge…right."

"Oh, don't worry you'll be amazed by our plan. This isn't even the final draft!" the proud architect slammed his hand to Tazuna's back quite hard. A shadow loomed over them, causing them to look up. Tazuna's jaw dropped to the floor, along with the others'. "Hey look, the cavalry has come to aid us," the dark brown haired man pointed at the giant birds in the sky with a casual smile.

The citizens of Wave were screaming and trying to get away from the bridge, thinking it was another enemy's attack. The Leaf-nins were preparing for a fight.

**A few minutes ago**

In the ground of Sky village, people could be soon loading things to their bird transports. The children were chatting among themselves, some eager to do the mission, while the others were complaining about it.

"Hey, let's see who can get to the bridge the fastest!" Kaguya Yukito suggested to his friends excitedly. Some genins perked up, hearing it.

"No thanks, I'd rather have the sharn rider driving the bird," Yashiharu Miki played with her long red hair.

"Hah, that's just because you're afraid of driving the sharn alone, admit it!" the white haired boy cackled.

"No, I'm not. But a race will mess my hair," she clutched her treated well hair protectively.

"I don't know that you care about your hair so much," Ryoga commented. "You don't seem to care about it in the training," she crossed her hand and pouted angrily.

"That's different thing!" she snapped.

"Alright, children, listen up!" a man clapped his hand to get their attention. "Kudoshi-san is already on the bridge, waiting for us. Since the materials for our own projects won't arrive here for another 3 days, we decided to deploy all force for the Wave's bridge! Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir!" the genin chorused.

"If you decide to ride the sharns on your own, that's your choice, but don't venture outside the meeting point we have agreed on. Those who prefer to have the riders to help you, come here! When you're there, do your best! The second wave will take shift after 5 hours and you're to go back here, immediately. Now, you're dismissed!"

"Race you there!" Shugo dashed past his comrades to the edge of the hikouseki.

"Hey, that's not fair!" Yukito shouted and followed him. The other boys looked at each other with a grin before they followed the two for the race.

The blonde haired boy leapt off of the ground right into the open air. He shouted in excitement as his body could do nothing but submit to the gravity law. The fox seal on his arm glowed and not a moment later an adult white feathered sharn flew toward him. Shugo quickly pulled out a collar, complete with its lash from his belt. He threw the opened collar to the waiting bird's neck and it shut with a click. He flipped around the bird's neck using the lash and landed on its body with no trouble. The genin used the lash to control its direction. He laughed when he saw his friends were behind him.

"Catch me if you can!" he put on the goggle that he had strapped on his belt. With the goggle in place, his eyes weren't bothered by the wind. Unlike some of his friends, Shugo preferred to drive the sharn in stand mode, as he felt more freedom (and wind stream) by using that method. He planted his feet on the bird's body, careful to put the chakra needed there to balance his body.

The unofficial race's competitors could easily see the bridge not long after. With a small war cry, Shugo sped up, leaving his friends to dust. Not wanting to get beaten easily by his blonde friend, Yukito urged his demonic bird to go faster.

It was the sight of several birds descending toward the bridge so fast that greeted the workers on the bridge. It certainly caused havoc when the people didn't see the creature would stop anytime soon and would have crashed into the bridge. In the last second, Shugo's bird pulled up, avoiding crashing into the bridge. Its passenger unlocked the collar and leapt off of the sharn.

He skidded 3 meters in the ground, because of the momentum. Yukito followed a close second. "Hell yeah! I win!" he laughed at the sour expression adorning his friend's face.

"Not fair! You cheated!" Yukito took off his goggles and grumbled.

"Not my fault that you're so easy to trick!" the blond took off his goggles too, as he watched the others arrived too, but unlike the two they chose to slow down their sharns first, causing the birds to hover above the bridge as they jumped to the ground below. The sharns gave a last thrill before they took off to the sky.

The genins looked around them and watched that they were being stared at by the people who were no longer running and instead pointing at them. They also saw the Leaf ninjas who were taking a stance. Although judging by their wide eyes and dumbfounded look, they wouldn't be able to react if the Sky genins attacked them right then.

"A race, I presume?" they recognized their fellow citizen right away. The man was shaking his head with an amused smile plastered on his face.

"Yeah, well…" Yukito laughed sheepishly. Shugo didn't seem guilty and just shrugged with a happy smile. One by one their fellow ninjas and citizens arrived with the sharns. The sharn riders landed their charges on the bridge's ground. The birds folded their wings, as they waited their passengers to land on the ground patiently, before taking off once again with their riders. There were 5 sharns that stayed on the bridge.

There was a staring contest between the Wave citizens and the Sky people. "Tazuna-san, they're all going to help you to build the bridge," Akito said. Tazuna was flabbergasted by the number of the people deployed by the Sky.

"I don't think we need this many," he muttered, seeing that the bridge was crowded by Wave and Sky people.

"You can ask the others to go home and fix their own homes or towns," Akito suggested.

"Yes, perhaps I'll do that," his eyes darted to the giant birds sitting on _his_ bridge. "And uh…what are they?"

"They're sharn'gotti, our transport birds. Very fast and pretty handy to have, aren't they?" the bridge builder could only nod, as he watched a bird ruffled its wing with its sharp beak. He didn't want to receive the wrong end of the sharp beak and tore to limbs by the wicked-looking claws. "Are they safe?"

"They are safe…for us," the architect added the last part with a grin. "Don't worry everything will be fine and we'll handle it. Trust us!" he gave him a thumb.

"Excuse me, what is the meaning of this?" the silver haired Leaf jounin demanded.

"The meaning of this, Hatake-san," Kakashi narrowed his eyes when the brown haired man spouted out his name casually. "—is that we're taking over the construction of the bridge. My superior thought it will be better to speed up the process and they sent some of our genins for it," he gave him his best fake smile. "You can do whatever you want now, we'll defend the bridge."

"…No thanks. My students will stay here and guard the bridge."

"It's up to you. The only thing I want you to do is to put your students under your thumb. I want no conflict between us. Good day," the architect began to instruct the children to their jobs.

The Leaf genins stay rooted on their spot, not knowing what to do with the foreign people.

0-0 0-0 0-0

"Pass me a hammer!" Shugo shouted. Miki who was measuring the wood in front of her got an unused hammer and threw it to her comrade. The blonde haired boy caught the tool without looking and used it to nail the bamboos together to erect the scaffolding.

A sharn flew above him, taking an iron beam on its claw. It dropped the beam slowly, listening to the instruction of a genin. The bird put down the beam and went to take another, leaving the genin below to weld the iron beams together, assisted by a Sky civilian.

"I'm going to grab a drink. Who wants some?" said Yukito. Nearly all children there raised their hands, causing the boy to sweat drop. He didn't have enough hands to bring all drinks alone.

"I'll help! I'm finished anyway," Shugo put down the hammer on the floor and went with his friend. They set out toward the huge wooden basket that contained water bottles, passing the Leaf genins who stared at them. They each brought 10 bottles on their hands and went back to their waiting friends when one of the Leaf genins, a boy whose black hair seemed like a chicken butt, stood on their way.

Shugo and Yukito groaned inwardly. They merely stepped aside and passed him, when the growling boy's foot intercepted Yukito, causing the boy to stumble and one of the bottles to fall. Knowing his friend would be able to stand without his help, Shugo put his right foot out and caught the bottle with the tip of his foot. He kicked it above him and caught the bottle with his head, before throwing the bottle back to Yukito's hold, who already regained his balance. The two genins glared at the scowling boy.

"Geez, must be nice not doing anything and just sit around like a king," Yukito growled out.

"Forget it. He's not worth it," his blonde friend reminded him. Scowling, Kimimaro's second son turned around.

"Fight me!" the Leaf genin demanded. The two stopped and turned at him simultaneously, before they let out a laugh that caught the attention of the others. They abandoned their works when they saw the tense situation and watched them intently. "What's funny?"

"Can you see around you or are you blind? We're doing a mission right now, so we can't play around with you, _your highness_. Unlike you who feel as if _your_ mission isn't important, we're different. We don't care if you abandon your mission or something, as long as you don't bother us. Now excuse us!" Shugo told him off.

"Jerk!" the bone user muttered, as he followed him.

Gai quickly restrained the fuming boy before he did something that would land them into trouble. "Restrain yourself, Sasuke!" The Sky genins went back to their jobs.

"Is there a problem here?" Akito asked with a frown on his face, as he watched the Uchiha boy squirmed on Gai's hold. "If you have so much free time, go help the others instead of standing around like an idiot," he reprimanded the boy harshly who glared at him back. "Make a trouble here and you'll be thrown out of this place," he warned him. "You really need to teach your students what is named self-restraint," Akito told Gai who chose to stay silent. Giving Sasuke a last glare, the non-shinobi left them.

"I'm sorry that Sasuke made trouble there," Kakashi said as the brown haired man passed him.

"Are you really sorry or is that a mere polite apology so as not to get kicked out of Wave?" the non-shinobi asked him mockingly. He snorted when Kakashi didn't say anything. "Whatever. Anything else?" The Leaf jounin shook his head. "Then I'll be on my way."

As the man walked away, Kakashi found himself sighing. The man seemed to be a tight-lip man. Deciding that asking the Sky ninjas directly was bad idea, he decided to watch them. Gai excused himself, telling Kakashi that he would gather information outside.

The ninjas they were sent were too young to be considered chuunin much less jounin, especially for such low ranked mission to build a bridge. If these were genins, Sky was surely had many batches of fresh genins. His eyes were immediately drawn toward the blonde boy who looked so much like his past sensei…or the man he had seen yesterday. If Naruto was grown up, he probably would look like the boy, plus the whisker marks on his cheek. His spiky blonde hair, his blue eyes…Kakashi sighed, not wanting to dwell on the frustrating thought by thinking of the boy who had long gone from Konoha.

The blonde man yesterday—probably the father of the young boy he was currently looking at—claimed that he was yondaime's relative. Well, his look did give a proof—somewhat, he didn't have any other proof aside from that. But the way he used the wind…it almost like watching his sensei. Kazama Arashi had come from a nomadic clan in Wind country who had an ability to control wind to some extent. And the man _did_ use wind to aid him. Perhaps he was really a relative of the Fourth, which brought question as to why he seemed to hate him, or better yet why he seemed to dislike Leaf.

The only thing he could think of at the moment was that he knew about what the village done to Naruto. But that would mean that he had met the boy…Did that mean Naruto was with them? It was best to tell sandaime about his suspicion.

Sighing, his eyes turned to the giant birds which were flying in the sky, lifting heavy beams around. He had never seen them before during his journey all around places, and he _had_ gone to many places. There shouldn't be a bird with that kind of size here. The only thing he could come up was that they were summoned birds, what was with their sizes and those strange stones on their foreheads. Their beaks and claws were big enough to crush an adult human. These birds definitely needed to be reported, along with the ability of the Sky people to ride them. He watched wide eyes when one of the birds let out a fire breath from its mouth and weld two iron beams together. It seemed that the bird's element was fire, but he couldn't be sure until he saw more of them using only fire.

Then he turned back to his own and Gai's genins. The only ones who decided to help them were Tenten and Lee, while Sakura although she had a hammer on her hand, she didn't use it, and Sasuke and both Hyuuga's members were pompously watching the Sky genins as if they were beneath them.

Well, as long as they didn't provoke the other village's genins, it was fine. Unknown to Kakashi, the villagers who were on the bridge and working with the genins from the Sky noticed the laziness of most Leaf genins and started to grumble about it, afterall they had paid them from their taxes (while the Sky genins were paid by their own village, as an act of kindness), and they did nothing. Sure they were paid for guarding it, but couldn't they help finish the bridge too? It seemed to be a small thing, but it was the small things that tended to be overlooked.

Kakashi watched them in silence, while he occasionally read his porn book, when 5 hours later, another group of those giant birds with their passengers approached the bridge. He noticed that the genins on the bridge stood up and left their jobs, including the blonde boy. Kakashi watched as more genins entered the bridge.

_Just how many genins did Sky have?_

This time, the birds didn't go away and instead landed on the bridge's short wall. There was a moment of conversation between the 2 group of genins before the first group walked toward the resting birds and climbed them, before taking off to God-Knows-Where.

The second group seemed as lively as the first group, chatting with their friends and joking. This caused him to conclude that Sky wasn't as cruel as he first thought. The genins' faces were cheerful, no tension among them. The adults didn't seem to have any kind of remorse for killing their enemies mercilessly though, as was seen on the scenes of battles that involved Sky. But then again, Leaf's anbus were all like that.

He inwardly calculated the numbers of the genins. It seemed that Sky was bigger-_much_ bigger than they first thought. How they hid for so long was beyond him. He didn't even know if the genins that were sent here were all the genins Sky had.

"KAI!" there was a shout of panic that had taken Kakashi's attention.

"SHIT!" a red haired genin from the Sky lost his balance when he was on the edge of the bridge and fell.

Kakashi immediately rushed to save him, but knew he would be too late to save the boy from plummeting to the sea deep below the bridge. He was surprised when he arrived on the edge of the bridge however, when said genin was standing on the surface, wiping his forehead and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Man, that was close," one of the friends of the kid who had fallen sighed. "Watch where you are standing at, you idiot! You almost get the first ticket straight to hospital!" the blue haired kid shouted.

"Mou, Noa, don't get riled up over this," an identical kid said to his apparently shorter haired twin.

"Hmph, he's lucky that he managed to snap out of his shock and gathered the right amount of chakra needed to his feet or he'd be done for!" she grumbled, watching as a sharn put down the beam it brought and picked up the grateful genin.

"Is he alright?" an adult worker from Sky asked the genins.

"He won't be after I'm done with him!" she scowled. "He even managed to loose the hammer!" said hammer was now part of the sea.

"Oh, come on, it's an accident. And a hammer is easy to replace," her twin tried to calm her.

There was nothing interesting happened after that. After dinner in Tazuna's house, Kakashi and Gai gathered in their room.

"So, what do you find about them?" the silver haired jounin asked the bowl-cut haired man.

"Well I had done some investigation, and according to rumor around people, their daimyou had given the Sky 4 islands and other small islands around them for them to use as the location of their newly created hidden village. And there is also rumor that one of the islands, Fune, will be used as a trading ground of some sort, where non-Sky citizen were able to enter. The fishermen were also told that they were allowed for fishing around that island, but beyond that they weren't allowed to enter Sky territory. There are reports that some people had seen giant birds destroying some Gatou's outposts by fire that coming out of their mouths, but I'm not sure about that," the taijutsu specialist contemplated.

"I had seen them. They are called sharn'gotti, according Tazuna. He said that they were transport birds, but I believe that they aren't just transport birds."

"You mean that Sky had the power to use air assault?" Kakashi nodded gravely. A flying unit means that it was able to fly above the ground, effectively passing through traps that were planted in the ground. And based on what he had seen the birds were fast, meaning that Sky had a great mobilization strength, and strong, capable of lifting heavy weight or attacking. He thought that they were summoned animals, but if they were, it meant that Sky had a mass summon contract, for he knew no one capable of summoning that many summons alone.

"Anything else?"

"Well, there were talks about people being interested to join Sky, especially after their feat of removing Gatou's tyranny, and uh, a snippet that the leader of Sky was blond-just like the rumors we had about him-and that his name was…Kazama Sora," he carefully said the name.

Kakashi looked up. That blonde man claimed that he was Leaf's Fourth' relative. "Are you saying that the man we had seen on the bridge is the leader of Sky?" Gai nodded. "Is it reliable?"

"Well, I heard the conversation in a bar from a drunken daimyou guard who claimed that he was there when the Sky representatives offered their help. I can't gather more information because the man was knocked out after that."

"His name (Sora) is the same with the name of their group…do you think he's the one who had built the group?" Nah, that wasn't possible. With those many genins they had, it was safe to assume that Sky was built some generations ago and that it chose to stay hidden… until they started to appear out of nowhere 3 years ago. Perhaps it was just a coincidence. Unless…unless, it was just named like that after they first made their debut. Perhaps the man was the catalyst of their appearance and thus their group was named after him. Of course it was just a suspicion, but it was better than nothing.

Gai shrugged. "There were talks that the bridge would be named The Great Sky Bridge, after the group's name. Also, some groups from Sky set up medical treatment tents, but they were all guarded by shinobis, so I avoided them for now. That's all I can gather about Sky, what about you?"

"Well I found that Sky seemed to be bigger than what we first initially thought," Kakashi said anxiously.

"How so?"

"You know the impressive amount of genins Sky had?" Gain nodded. "They have at least 2 times the number, because I had seen a shift of genin workers. And I counted that there must be more than 50-100 genins for each shift there," Gai's eyes bugged out.

"Are you sure they aren't just academy students?" even Konoha in their prosperous moment only passed no more than 20 genins every year.

"I'm sure, and based from what I had seen, they received more training than our own genins, because one of them—when he fell from the bridge—was able to do water-walking, and his friends didn't seem to be phased out by it, as if it was a normal occurrence for them to see someone doing water-walking," Kakashi forgot to tell him that he had seen a genin he suspected as the son of the Sky's leader. "Other than that I've nothing else to report. The genins tended to stay away from our genins and I," the dog summon contractor sighed in disappointment.

"Well, let's just hope that we'll be able to gather more info tomorrow," Kakashi nodded before Gai's frown quickly changed into a bright face that he had slowly come to despise. "I'm sure that with our youthful fire, we'll be able to do that! My Lee will be happy to befriend genins from other village!"

Gai's 'eternal' rival rolled his eyes.

**In Sky**

In his office, Naruto was leafing through the reports of the transactions made to buy enough materials to build another village in Koori Island. "So, how's Wave?" he asked Yutsu Raido, his Head of Investigation (and Interrogation), who was there along with the other 5 Heads, while the other three (Head of Technology and Weapon Development, Head of Seal Research, and Head of Potion and Poison Research) were busy with their own businesses.

The silvery blonde haired man also had a bundle of reports on his arm. "The people were directed to fix their own houses and public buildings after we told them the genins would take over the bridge construction. So far they couldn't do much because of the lack of materials and the price of the material itself. They're planning to cut down the trees in a nearby forest soon. We had requested them to not touch the mangrove forest, beside it was already 65 percent razed by Gatou anyway and we wouldn't want the people to damage it further. Plans to revitalize the forest to what it had once been are being underway, with the Wave people as the participants. The daimyou already approved the plans."

Raido read one of the reports, "As for the Wave people itself, food, especially fishes quickly entered the market and its price was expected to go down soon. The fishermen and farmers weren't taxed by Gatou anymore, so none of their goods were taken. I heard that many villages held their own free food festival, with as much food as they currently had," he put down the report. "Still, it will be a good idea for us to use some of our supplies for them, but instead of giving them to the government, we can cook them ourselves in Wave itself. We can build public kitchens in some areas and recruited the woman villagers to cook the food along with our own people and distribute the food, while the men worked to fix their villages. It will build interaction and trust between us, making it easier for us to mingle with them. I think it will be better if they fix their own villages, with as little help from us, to build their repressed confidence and so they won't rely on us to help them with everything. Shiho can tell you about the treatment of Wave citizens."

"Well, there are many cases of malnourishment," she scowled. "But that is expected. So far we had given them vitamin and supplements and moved the worst patients to nearby hospitals—which looked more like clinics, actually—and began to treat them there," she winced when she remembered the sight of a starved child whose bones poking out and looked more like a zombie rather than living-breathing (and most assuredly healthy) human. "We need more supplies, especially vitamins, supplements, and food—which should be able to be easily digested, like porridge for example. We'll also check for diseases, since the environment of their neighborhoods aren't exactly what you call clean, so we'll know if there is an illness we should be aware of and stop it from spreading. We are also short of men to deploy to various other places," she finished.

"Well, we can send healer apprentices to help you. They can think of it as a training, and we can also send notice to genins to see if any interested. Some special notices can be sent to the genins who learn under those medic-nins that had been dispatched. We can also ask for volunteers from our own citizens. And perhaps we should even ask Daimyou Rokuonji to ask help from other countries," Naruto said, looking up from his paperwork with a smirk.

"But that'll be like inviting spies from other villages," Shousei Ueki protested. The Head of Administrative Department frowned at his superior's suggestion.

"Well, that's actually the point," Naruto told the 45 years old blonde man who immediately blinked at the reply.

"Then it would be a waste asking the daimyou for the special 3 months free of any ninja from other hidden villages then?" Narue, who had taken the role as the ambassador of Sky, asked.

Naruto sent a look at Hyouga, The Head of Strategy and Warfare, who saw it and nodded. The black haired man spoke, "We already know that the other hidden villages will try to spy us anyway, because of our reputation we had gained during these 3 years. So instead of trying to catch them sneaking around, won't it be better to have them come to us in plain sight. We can ask the daimyou to organize the foreign volunteers to join us, rather than going off on their own. And I want to see whether our security is as good as we think. Let them test it. Our people will be asked to not answer any question from outsiders, which also include the Wave people itself or give vague answer only. Those whose behaviors are strange can be reported and Raido's men can investigate these persons."

"So they'll help us helping Wave since volunteers are expected to bring goods or fund with them along, having them test our defense so we can improve it, and catch them in their own game? Neat."

"Well, it isn't as easy as we said it, Narue. I'm sure that many of them will realize or at least suspect that there are spies among the volunteers and thus will be careful with their actions. That's why I want to ask Raido to provide at least one of his men (who were experienced in spying) on each camp."

The silver eyed man nodded. "It will be done, Naruto-sama."

"Shinjo, do you have anything to report?" the Kyuubi vessel asked the Head of Infiltration and Assasination who was the only one to stay silent.

"There seemed to be murders against Gatou's men who had been able to escape from us in the hand of Wave people themselves. They seemed to remember the people who had oppressed them. I don't care about their deaths, but their corpses will spread diseases if we don't do anything to them—and let me tell you that it_ is_ a messy death, won't want that to happen to me. Guess that they're still angry over Gatou and his men. My department also had seized Gatou's property and found a great deal of explosives and weapons inside the base. I assumed that he would use the explosive to blow up the bridge, because some barrels of explosive were being loaded to a ship by the time we attacked his base. We stored them there, but brought some of the weapons back to Yugo's Department for further testing."

"Alright, thanks for the report. Now is there anyone who wants to add something?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, I want to speak about the materials for our own construction," Narue said. "They are expected to arrive here in the next 4 days. Unfortunately most of them are big ships and right now we don't have any harbor to accommodate them. They can however release anchor on Wave's biggest harbor, but that will mean that there will be time wasted for transporting them back to our islands. Or we can ask them to anchor themselves 50 meters from Fune and sent smaller ships there and load the materials into the boats. Also we have to complete all of our constructions before the next rainy season come, which is 4 ½ months from now. But that means that we have to cut down the number of our missions to deploy the necessary number to accomplish that. And we can't pay outsiders for that, if we still want to maintain our secrecy."

"Ah, but we can use outsiders to build the residential area in both Koori and Fune islands, while we can use our own force to build the more sensitive buildings. The islands have natural deep sea caves, so we won't have to build a tunnel for secret paths ourselves. We'll only need to furnish the caves. I think it'll be better to use smaller ships to load the materials from the big ships. Currently we have many ships that we raided from Gatou's force. If we can't finish uploading the materials in a day, we can ask the ship to stay overnight in Wave's harbor before they come back later at the next day. At the moment Koori is unneeded because the housing in Sky is still more than enough for our population. We can focus on Fune first and then we'll build Koori step by step. Our first priority is to build a bridge that span from Fune to Wave's main island. We also need to build an artificial island as an outpost and also as a gate."

"Ugh, that'll mean lots of soil and sand, not to mention lots of time," Narue commented, knowing that it will be a long time before the island was finished, not to mention the amount of money and workers needed to dig the soil needed and to transport it to the sea.

"Eh, when I said artificial island, I mean it," he inserted a data pad and a hologram of the island plan was revealed.

The artificial island was round and its diameter (surface) was 200 meters. Its shape was that of a bowl with the wider side for the surface, with a center pillar right below it that acted as a foundation. The center pillar was hollow, enabling it to be used as living quarter and deep sea laboratory. Another 5 smaller pillars (not hollow) supported the edge of the island and there would be metal chains around the island to anchor the island to the sea bed to make sure it didn't move around because of the strong current. In the center of the island, a shuseki tower will be used to feed energy to make sure the system of the island was unconnected from the other (natural) islands. To make sure no one knew about the existence of said stone, it would placed inside the island, right at the core, where non Sky people would be able to enter. The problem was that since sunlight didn't reach it, it couldn't replenish its power. To counter it, the floor above the tower would be made from blurred reinforced glass (so the light could still pass through it) and there would be other smaller shuseki stones (that could be retracted and replaced) to support the power hungry system. A crystalline statue will be erected above the blurred glass to defuse any suspicion the glass floor (compared to the concrete floor) created. There was the other problem of covering said tower when they transported it. The easiest way was to do it at nighttime.

On the surface, stables, warehouses and living quarters (as in hotels) would be erected for merchants. A registry building will be erected 10 meters from the first outpost where carts and goods will be checked up to make sure no one tried to sneak into Fune. The merchants would be registered. Photos of the merchants and data about the goods will be stored, and a ticket card with the merchant's (or merely visitors) full information will be given to him for a price (let's think of it as an entry fee). Without the card, merchants won't be allowed to go past the bridge to Fune. And guard post will be built at the side of the gate that would connect the island and the bridge to Fune. The process would take 45 minutes to finish, faster if the merchant had given the data of his goods, so the check up would be done faster. Food and drink stalls, along with entertainment would be maintained on the island to make sure they wouldn't be bored.

To make sure that people wouldn't be discouraged by the tedious process, the tax would be set 5 percent, much lower than other places, and Sky would produce high quality of medicine (that would attract medicine merchants). And outsiders could actually rent empty stalls (complete with a small apartment above the shop) in Fune (which they could rent when they registered themselves), allowing them to stay in Fune island for a longer time. A ninja Academy would be set up in Fune, with its students picked up by Sky ninjas using the sharns, so they wouldn't have to face with tedious bureaucracy (and it was faster anyway). A school for advanced fishery and agriculture would be set up there too, inviting fishermen and farmers (or just interested scholars) from all other place to come there (and in turn become customers for the merchants).

Transaction could also be done on the artificial island itself, although it would be mostly between non-Sky merchants and the tax was rated 7 ½ percent, 2 ½ percent higher than in Fune.

Negishi Hyouga whistled at the plan. "You guys had actually planned this carefully, hadn't you?" Since he was the Head of Infiltration and Assassination Department, he usually didn't come to a meeting that had nothing to do with his department (there were many meetings, either official or unofficial, and it would be tedious not to mention time-wasting to join all of them).

"Thanks," Ueki said. "But the island is actually just an abandoned project that we had planned to use in aoigetsukai ( the 3rd realm). We merely just adjusted the plan to meet the condition of the current terrain, so it was no big deal. Aside from building it, we also planned to build a big pier in Fune, so sea merchants will be attracted too. We want to create Fune as a successful port."

Narue shook her head amusedly. The black haired woman spoke, "This kind of thing makes me wonder if we're truly a ninja or actually a trading village," the others chuckled. "I suggest we make another department, built specifically to handle this kind of thing. Name it Department of Trade and Supply or something. The leader can be civilian for all I care, as long as he/she is able to handle the job and know what he/she is doing. Beside this way civilians will have representative in the council."

"That can be arranged," Naruto said. "Like you had said, we ninjas shouldn't delve too deep into this kind of thing. And we have other things to worry about rather than stressing ourselves over a trade," the others agreed with him. They were all ninjas at heart, not traders.

Six days later The Great Sky Bridge was completed. And aside from seeing the Sky people tried to mingle with Wave citizens, Kakashi also saw volunteers from all over the world started to come to Wave to rebuild the country. He even noted some undercover Konoha ninjas among the volunteers (1) from Fire country. Those undercover people told his team that they would take over the mission of trying to find more data about Sky. He was only thankful that none of his students (cough Sasuke cough) tried to attack any Sky genin after the first day, but that could be attributed to the stern talking he had done to the genins.

Knowing that he could do nothing else, after telling them about what they knew about Sky, Kakashi's and Gai's team returned to Konoha, as they were now effectively bound by Black Treaty Act 10 by the time the bridge was finished.

As they walked on the bridge, the jounin could see huge ships entering Sky territory, bringing with them construction materials (mostly precast/finished product that just need to be set up) all over the world. It seemed that Sky would start his construction soon.

Five days later they arrived at Konoha, faster than the journey toward Wave, because there was no client holding them back. The 2 jounins immediately reported back to sandaime about their findings.

"Arashi's relative is the leader of Sky? That is…unexpected," sandaime touched his chin and rubbed it. "You said his name is Kazama Sora?" Kakashi nodded.

"He looked so much like sensei that I thought he was his twin. And for reason unknown, he seemed to dislike us and it seemed as if some of it was spread through Sky rank. I even saw one genin (as in Hazeda Kazuhi) openly glaring at me and made rude gestures. Their genins distanced themselves from our teams and barely acknowledged our presences, even after Lee, Gai's pupil, tried to befriend them."

"Hmm, that's disturbing news. What do you think about their strength?"

"Well one of them could have dispatched Zabuza, although he was spared because his subordinate agreed to join Sky in exchange for his master's life. As far as I knew one of the Sky-nins had the same bloodline with him and wanted to have him," he saw the questioning glance on sandaime's eyes. "Ice element bloodline. There's also this woman that seemed to have a water element bloodline. She could create a serpent made of water, and drained human just with a touch," the jounin cringed when he remembered about her. He _so_ did not want to fight against her. Sarutobi nodded.

"And what about this Kazama Sora?"

"Oh, the man is so great, Hokage-sama!" Gai exclaimed, earning him rolling eyes from his rival. "Although I can't say that he used pure taijutsu, for he didn't, he was very quick and used his wind bloodline with apparent ease!"

'He used weapons too,' Kakashi mouthed to the inquiring Hokage.

"There was a taijutsu user in his group, though! Someone with the name of Kazeru Ginji, if I'm not mistaken. I'd like to have a match against him to see which one of us has the brighter flame!" Sandaime could only hope that Gai wouldn't write about his _supposedly_ youth fire (it could be flaming ass for all he cared) on his report. It would be tiring to read it.

"Hm…let's just hope we can gather more data about them from our spies," the old ninja muttered.

**Meanwhile in Wave**

Said spies were left wondering for these 4 days about what exactly Sky was doing in the sea. So far they saw 3 of those giant birds carried a huge ring every time they flew to the sea and plunged it into the ocean. Not to mention the long pillars they had put on there before in the first day. Well, 'plunge' wasn't the right word because they carefully put the circular blocks one by one.

They were itching to find what they were doing exactly, but couldn't come close because it was guarded 24/7. They only knew that whatever they built was, it was big. They could only watch them from afar with binocular.

The only thing they understood was that whatever they were building, it had something to do with the bridge they were currently making.

"Man, this is exhausting," his partner, a red haired woman, wiped her forehead and leaned on the empty couch provided for the volunteers.

"I can't see what make you exhausted when all you're doing is cooking," he commented.

She glared balefully. "Then why don't you do it since it _isn't_ exhausting?" she glowered. "Let's see if you can say the same after you do it."

"No way. I'm no woman," he earned a sharp kick on his knee. "HEY!"

"Sexist pig!" she then groaned. "I shouldn't have signed up for this."

"Then you should go back to Konoha," a new voice told her coldly. They turned to see a brown haired man with a fake smile opening the tent.

"Shh! Are you trying to get us caught?" The only woman in the tent hissed.

"I don't see anyone around this place, so we're safe. Then again with your relatively blotched up attempt to search info about them, you'll be caught soon," he smirked and then simply exited the tent as quickly as he entered it. It seemed the man entered the tent just to insult her, which was very likely.

"Geez, I really hate him! What a jerk!" the woman glowered. Her partner nodded.

"He works under Danzou, doesn't he? I just hope he doesn't ruin our chances," he replied, knowing that any man under Danzou's order would try to gather info as hard as he could, which would put him (and them) under high risk.

Their eyes turned to the door, when a woman opened it. "Ah, there you are, Aki-san. We need you to help us with the food distribution," she apologized for cutting her resting time. Aki, the name of the red haired spy from Konoha, could only groan, causing her partner to chuckle at her misfortune. "And I heard that Kuno-san is looking for you, Kuroda-san," this time it was his time to groan, there was no other explanation other than the man was looking for him to help with the rebuilding and that his break time was up.

"Coming right up," he muttered, and got up from his seat.

Unknown to the spies, a small listening device was planted on the tent and Sky had recorded their conversation (2).

**Sky's hikouseki, one of the training grounds**

Shugo and Yukito eyed each other, carefully watching their opponent's movement. Ten meters across them a medic-nin was ready to help them if any of the boys was injured. Some cameras placed on the metal poles surrounding the arena were recording the match.

The two dropped into their stances. "Alright, you know the drill. You can't go outside the area surrounded by the poles, and no breaking camera, or you'll have to pay it! And no kirigakure no jutsu because you'll need the data from the recording! The first 15 minutes: taijutsu battle and no kinjutsu or using bloodline either! You can start now!" the blonde medic shouted.

The two genins didn't waste time, as both of them dashed to the center of the arena. Yukito, using his longer reach, thrust his right hand toward the blonde boy's chest, but Shugo slapped his wrist when it was mere inches from his chest with his right hand. He immediately caught his opponent's wrist and pulled his body toward him, causing the Kaguya's boy to widen his eyes. The Sky leader's son brought his knee upward, but Yukito immediately used his left palm and put it on Shugo's knee, using it as leverage while he flipped, wrenching his right hand on the process.

Not wasting his time, Shugo crouched and swept the ground, just as his opponent landed with his back against him. Gasping, the white haired boy fell backward. He bent his body and put a hand on the ground to propel his body to the air.

The fight continued like that for ten minutes, with Shugo appeared to have the upper hand, but nonetheless he still wasn't able to win. Both genins had affinity for taijutsu, but Shugo was slightly better than his friend. Although when Yukito was allowed to use his bloodline, the white haired boy had 75 percent chance to win the fight if he engaged him into a taijutsu battle, because Shugo had to be careful to avoid the bones that appeared out of his body and was more on defensive. It was also bad that his wind bloodline was more of a mid or long ranged attack, and wasn't very effective in a taijutsu battle.

When 15 minutes had passed and no winner was declared, the medic interrupted the fight. "Alright, now ninjutsu match!" Yukito grimaced, knowing that he wouldn't be able to win this. He wasn't fond of ninjutsu and wasn't afraid to admit it. True to what he thought, the oxygen was knocked out of his lung 7 minutes later when he was too slow avoiding a wind blast. After 3 minutes rest and being checked up by the medic-nin, the test was continued and this time it was genjutsu match. Both boys were groaning. They only had average marks for their genjutsu and weren't interested to learn it.

The medic could only watch with a smile as both sides were making a quite pathetic attempt with their D and C rank genjutsu techniques. And since most low ranked genjutsu techniques were for changing the perception of the area around the arena (and both of them knew no genjutsu to cause pain directly), it couldn't even be called a genjutsu battle at all, but more like a match on who could make the most impressive change of their surrounding.

"Alright! Cut it out, guys! It seems we better move on to the next match. Anything goes, except for kinjutsu!" not that the boys had mastered any kinjutsu technique…

In this battle Shugo tried to avoid taijutsu battle, knowing that his chance to win would be lowered if he did so. He used his ninjutsu and wind blades to attack Yukito, while his friend dodged the attacks and countered it with his bone bullets, all the while trying to get close to his blonde opponent. Shugo used his speed to get him away though. Both genins knew that using weapons like kunai or shurikens wouldn't matter. Shugo because his wind attack were limitless (and he didn't have chakra exhaustion) unlike his weapons and Yukito, because Shugo's wind shield would repel ninja throwing weapons better than if he used his smaller sized and faster bone bullets.

A pair of genins approached the medic-nin and greeted her. The woman opened her folder and checking out their names before nodding and signed them to sit on the couch to wait until Shugo and Yukito were finished with their battle.

"Allright, it's over, kids!" the last battle looked more like a Cat & Mouse game to the medic-nin (Yukito as the cat, and Shugo as the mouse). "Go to the infirmary for a check up, and you can recover your data in 2 hours," she shooed them. The 2 other genins stood up and walked to the arena.

"15 minutes taijutsu battle! No kinjutsu or bloodline technique! And don't destroy the cameras!" she warned the genins in the arena.

Shugo and Yukito walked to the infirmary where their bruises and cuts were treated. "Hm…no broken bones or anomaly. You're healthy. Make sure that you eat regularly. You can go now!"

"Thanks, Kimihara-sensei!" they both walked away from the white sterile room and went to retrieve the recording of their fight.

They replayed their fight in the monitor screen, while waiting to be called. "Man, this fight sucks! I don't see why we have to make ourselves laughing material with this genjutsu battle," Yukito groaned.

"Hey, do you think if I use a kick instead of pulling you toward me, I'll be able to win the taijutsu match?"

Yukito snorted. "Doubtful. I'll just have to intercept your kick with my elbow."

"But if that happens I can just put down my leg before you can intercept it and send you a spin kick," the blond suggested.

"Then I just have to duck, don't I? And after that you'll be an easy prey."

"Not if I bring it down."

"Riiight, if you do that too fast you'll just imbalance yourself and—"

"Kazama Shugo and Kaguya Yukito, you're called," they looked up and saw the genins who fought before them in the same arena exited the room. A female worker, who didn't seem to be a ninja judging from her posture, gave each of them a paper. "This is your next match for next week, Shugo-kun. Your next opponent should be Mikagami Mio, but apparently she has a personal matter to attend that day, so I have to change your opponent. Is that okay?"

"Nah, I don't mind," the brunette smiled.

"And this is yours, Yukito-kun. There is no change for your next match," both kids thanked her.

The 2nd born Kaguya groaned. "If the examiners tell us that our genjutsu sucks, I'm going to kill them," Shugo rolled his eyes and pushed his friend toward the room after he stopped the recording. _As if he could kill them._ "And I'm not fond of getting them lecturing me about my mistakes."

"Think of it from the positive side. We'll know what we did wrong and how to fix it."

"Says you," his friend grumbled.

"You and your ego," Shugo shook his head.

"What's wrong with having an ego?" the green eyed boy looked offended.

"Nevermind," the blond rolled his eyes. They entered the room and closed the door.

TBC…

The other countries sent volunteers to cover up the undercover ninjas after being persuaded by their hidden villages. Frankly I didn't think countries in a shinobi world (where warfare, battle, tyranny, blackmail, etc are a common thing) would help other smaller countries with nothing for return. The volunteers themselves were really trying to help (although they didn't know about their governments' plot). The countries also sent people to see whether Wave would be a profitable trade route (which it should be because of its strategic location). Some ambassadors were sent to deal with daimyou and trying to make a deal that will profit them. Usually big countries will try to give them a 'loan' to help rebuilding the rising Wave (think of it like IMF-International Monetary Fund- did with the developing countries), so the country would be indebted to them. The volunteers had their own fund they used to help Wave that was unrelated with their governments though.

So actually Wave and Sky were faced by spies from shinobi villages and the civilian governments from all side.

Let's just say that since I haven't seen any ninja in Canon Naruto (so far anyway) used listening device, they didn't have it, and so wasn't bothered to check for anything that didn't emit chakra.

The last part was done to introduce you to Sky's system where every genin would have to fight against a random genin each week (to see how they fight against different sparring partner with different fighting style and so that they can gather more experience). They'd also have weekly check up after that and then would be given advices from the examiners who observed the recording of their match. Unfortunately because of the numerous amount of genins (and much smaller amount of staffs needed to oversee them), the match duration was too short to make any real observation.

I forget to tell you that Sky has different genin system than other villages. I'll explain it to you in the next chapter.

Next: Invitations for chuunin exam hosted by Leaf are sent. More time skip. The genin candidates for the Leaf's exam. More about Sky's ninja system.


	20. 19 Invitations for Chuunin Exam

**Soragakure, the Hidden Village of Sky by HarbringerLady (chapter 19)**

**Author's Note:** There are many time and place jumps in this chapter. And this chapter is edited by **KarinMS. **Many thanks to her for editing this in such a short time. I choose to upload the edited version of it instead of my unedited one. The edited version was done days ago, but I have mid exam to worry about. A bit (?)of Naruto's family drama.

Chapter Nineteen

Invitations

The construction of the bridge and Fune Island, along with the artificial island that had yet to be named (AN: ideas for the name, anyone?) went as smooth as it could be. Sure there were some problems like material shipment delay that was caused by a storm in the north, but it was nothing much to worry about. With the Great Sky Bridge completed, there was a land route for them to use, aside from the sea route.

It had been 2 months since Sky was officially founded. The bridge and the artificial island were halfway through. Most of the buildings on Fune Island had been set up using prefabricated material to cut down on the time needed. Bright lamps were placed on the bridge, to make sure ships didn't crash into the bridge structure at night, acting like a lighthouse, as most ships didn't have beacon signals and were forced to rely on their vision.

There was a crudely built pier on the island to make the transportation easier, although plans to improve it were already drawn on the table and would be done as soon as the materials arrived and the workers were available.

The Wave itself started to thrive, albeit not overnight. With the arrivals of merchants (who were at first unsure of this new route) and the help of Sky and volunteers, the country started to get back on its own feet. Motels were built as travelers came (as hotels were still too expensive for them to build at the moment), and buildings were fixed. With the money donated by Sky ('borrowed' from Gatou), the port was expanded to be able to accommodate bigger and more ships. Although it couldn't be called perfect, the path to prosperity was already laid on the ground and was halfway done.

Sky itself benefited from the success of overthrowing Gatou, as its reputation grew and more people asked to hire them. For some time, many low ranked mission from outside wouldn't be accepted, because Sky still needed its genins for its own workforce first. Investigations were done to make sure the missions they accepted wouldn't clash with each other. It was a tiring 2 months for the newly founded village, but the spirit was at all time high.

With the country starting to get back on its own feet, the volunteers gradually took off of Wave to go back to their own countries, leaving a smaller amount of them to stay and help with the ongoing progress.

To control Gatou's former businesses, they placed a group to directly monitor them and reported to the newly created Trade and Supply Department of their progress. There were problems at first when the members of said department were trying to find the right method to control the Sky's businesses (whose tracks and trails were covered to make sure no one knew about the businesses' real relationship with Sky by making a dummy corporation that enveloped the businesses under its wings, so the sign of the different management approach wasn't obvious) and actually it was still hectic right now, but they somewhat managed to organize the whole thing with the help of the other departments, especially Foreign Affair Department and Administration Department who had similar jobs with the new organization, even though the jobs weren't as specialized as the Trade and Supply Department currently did.

It was fortunate that Sky had created a company 2 years ago or it would be weird to see a new unknown company suddenly taking over Gatou's former business and actually succeed.

Right now Naruto was in his office, putting down a scroll delivered by the Fire Lord's messenger with a frown after reading it. It seemed that since Konoha couldn't set its feet in Wave for 3 months (openly) since the Black Treaty Act 10 was brought out once again the Fire's hidden village sent its letter via Fire Country. It seemed like Konoha could at least use a loophole when they saw one. The message was an invitation for the chuunin exam this year that would be hosted in Konoha next 3 months. The letter asked for a reply in a month, so they could prepare accommodations for the Sky genin teams in advance _if_ Sky was interested.

Naruto sighed. Part of him wanted to tear the scroll and throw it into the dustbin, but his logic reminded him of his job. The chuunin exam would be an arena for hidden villages to show their genins' strengths and to attract costumers. Not to mention it would be a way for hidden villages to observe their rival villages. He knew that Sky already had a great reputation for a young hidden village and they didn't actually need to have more costumers for they had no financial problem seeing that they have other money resources aside from doing ninja mission, but the exam was also a way to make their village's political stance known. Rock and Cloud had never taken the invitation to Konoha's chuunin exam because they had a grudge against the Leaf village. Smaller villages also seldom entered it because they usually had no genin to spare, so they would make an exam on their own. For distant villages, they usually didn't enter for obvious reason, preferring to enter the nearer villages that hosted the exam.

He didn't want his village to be openly hostile with Leaf, just because he didn't like Leaf. He didn't want to be the reason why his people hated Konoha. If anything, he wanted to make a stance as a neutral hidden village. For now, he wouldn't make an alliance with others, but would be willing to trade. That way, Sky would be able to have friendly affiliation with others with no strings attached. Of course Sky could just easily say that the genins were still too busy to attend, although he knew that by the next 3 months, most of the projects would be completed. Still it would be a great experience for his genins to go outside Wave, expanding their horizon, even if it was to Konoha. There was also the problem that Sky's own private chuunin exam would be held around the time of Konoha's exam.

Grumbling, the blond put the scroll in the pile of letters that needed to have further sorting. He already knew that most of the Council members agreed that entering the exam hosted by Konoha would be beneficial for Sky in the future. The problem was which genins would enter the exam and the safety precaution when they were in Konoha. Naruto put his mind back on his job, pushing away the subject of Konoha from his mind.

_Wave Main Island_

Hotaka was an Iwa-nin who was given the job to spy on the newly founded village called Sky. Normally his village, who was one of the major villages wouldn't bother to do that, because usually a new village was hardly a rival for it. But Sky had been a thorn in their side for these past 3 years; even before it had become an official hidden village. Rock had lost some of its potential clients to the Sky group who was rumored to have never failed its job. So now here he was, spying on the village.

When Sky had recruited people to build buildings for Fune Island, he had thought to get himself hired. But he was there as a volunteer and it would be suspicious for a volunteer to join the recruitment, especially when he had told others that he was a doctor (and he really did have knowledge on medicine, seeing as he was a medic-nin) and not a construction worker. It was a really great help that an Earth Country's spy who had posed as a construction worker there had agreed to help its hidden village to spy on Sky.

In the end, that man's report wasn't really worth noting. It seemed that the recruits were only allowed to build non-ninja related building. And there were too many Sky ninjas around for a non-ninja like him to sneak around. Hotaka himself had once tried to disguise himself as a Sky genin, only to get himself almost bitten by those fucking birds. The other Sky ninjas immediately suspected him, so he had to get away. It seemed as if those birds knew that he wasn't Sky's ninja for some unknown reasons.

The first time he disguised himself as Sky ninja was as a young blonde boy with a hitae-ate with Sky's symbol. It had worked for a moment, before some genins frowned and walked toward him, asking him why they had never seen him before. He swore that those genins were laughing when his back was turned as he escaped, telling them that a worker was calling for his help.

The second time, he had tried to disguise himself as a genin whose face was that of a real Sky genin. Once again it failed, this time because of his lack of information of their daily lives in Sky. He had tried to coax information from them subtlety, only to have their undivided attention at him immediately. Then came the inquiries from them, asking opinions of things that were obviously common things in their village, but unknown to him. He was glad to escape 5 minutes later when a worker asked for a genin, which he readily accepted. The genins allowed him to flee with no question, although he could feel their eyes boring in his back. They _knew_ that he was a spy, he was sure of it, but they didn't seem to be bothered by it. They even had the gall to be amused by the situation!

The third and last time, and it was when he almost got his head bitten off by those accursed birds, was when he thought he was smarter and sneakier this time by disguising himself as an aloof Sky worker. He chose to be a worker, because it seemed that the genins tended to answer to them and wasn't as close to other genins (or so it seemed). And he chose to be a Sky citizen, because obviously they had privilege to enter Fune without much scrutiny. He hadn't taken those birds into consideration when he went undercover. He had to dive to the ocean to avoid the birds. It was lucky that he knew how to swim or he'd drown. Again, no Sky ninja was deployed to look for him. It was like they thought he was a joke!

He had discovered days later that there were people that had similar fate. The only thing that comforted him was the fact he wasn't the only one, but that didn't really make him happy.

So, now came his replacement who would use henge jutsu to be undercover as him. The damn man had the gall to tell him that he was an incompetent spy! Bristling, Hotaka went back to Earth country under disguise with some other volunteers who had decided that they had done their job.

"Let's see how you spy them, your holy graciousness!" he muttered vindictively, hoping that his replacement got his turn. It wasn't like he was the only one who failed. What a prick!

_Back to Sky_

"Seems like there is a gap between the 2nd and the 3rd exam," his wife pointed put after she carefully read what Konoha's chuunin exam entailed.

"Oh? How many days?" Naruto questioned, not really interested.

"A month," she said, her rainbow eyes scanned the scroll on her hand.

Her blonde husband turned, an eyebrow was raised. "A month? That long?" she nodded.

"Well, that's what the scroll says. It says here that during that time, participants are encouraged to rest and train for the 3rd exam, and so the bureaucrats have the time to prepare themselves."

"Hmph, seems more like Konoha is trying to spy on the other villages' genins to me," he glowered.

"Maybe, maybe not. The point is we can hold our own private chuunin exam during that month. A month in this realm is 20 months in Aoigetsuki after all. We can use that time to specifically train them, don't you think so?" He nodded. "So, you agree that we'll enter Konoha's chuunin exam?" she smiled.

Naruto grumbled. "It's not like you and the others will stop trying to get me to agree with it, might as well do it before you start lecturing me. It will save me the trouble and possible headache," he answered.

"Hmph, you don't need to sound defeated about it," he didn't reply and chose to stay quiet. "So, when will you go to Konoha?"

"…Excuse me, what?"

"When will _you_ go to Konoha?" she repeated.

"I agree that Sky will enter the chuunin exam, isn't that enough? Now you want _me_ to go there?"

"Of course. Since I assume that Shugo will enter the exam, you will watch him when he gets to be a chuunin, right?" she stated.

"Well then, he just has to stay here and be a nice little boy. We have our own chuunin exam after all," he smirked, as if he had just gotten a bright idea.

"You know that Shugo won't accept that," his wife pointed out.

"Uh-huh. So?" he didn't turn at her, busying himself with the laptop in front of him—hey, he might not know technology that much, but that didn't mean he didn't know about it at all, especially for a man in his position!

Yui glared at her passive husband. "You know, for someone whose age has reached half a century, you're still unbelievably immature," she commented.

"Well, what can I say?" he smirked playfully. "The fire of youth is still brightly burning inside me," she groaned, exasperated by his lame defense.

"Please don't tell me Shigeru (as in Kanada Shigeru, one of Naruto's personal guards) had infected you too," she groaned.

"Nah, this is purely me."

"…That's what I'm most afraid of."

"…"

"Anyway, Shugo will enter the exam, and that's final!" she looked pointedly at her protesting husband. "He has the strength and brain to be a chuunin already, and I won't let you deny him that. Aiko also had volunteered to become a jounin-sensei for the exam."

"Wait, wait, wait! I haven't agreed about Shugo yet, and now you want my other child to go _there_? What next? Mamoru is going to enter it too?" he said angrily.

"No, he's too young and he hasn't even entered the academy yet," she huffed for Naruto to ever think that she'd send her youngest son, who wasn't even 5 years old yet, to enter the exam where he had the possibility of dying.

"Well, thank God, that you still have common sense!' he blurted out, earning him a scowl. "I'm tired, let's talk about it tomorrow," he headed to bedroom after turning off the laptop. He didn't want to deal with this crap today.

"The harder you're trying to run away, the bigger the chance you'll get more than you can chew."

"…I'm _not_ running away," was his muffled response, before he closed the door. "And if it is bigger than I can chew, I have Soramaru (Kyuubi's name in this fic, for you who have forgotten about him completely) to chew it!" he said from behind the door.

Yui sighed. For someone who was supposed to be the all-wise, he could be such a dork sometimes. Now, why did she agree to marry him again? Oh yes, because he's a hunk (despite his age) and he could be sweet when he wanted to_ and_ he was an excellent human battery for her. Seemed like he didn't want to be sweet this time though, which frustrated her. Then again, she could always 'persuade' him when it came to it. She smiled wickedly and followed him to their bedroom; plans to convince him were already formed in her mind to make sure he caved to her demands. Beside, she also needed to be recharged right now, and Naruto was her constant chakra source. Smiling, she entered their room.

_The next day_

"Dad actually agreed to let us go to Konoha's chuunin exam?" Naruto's daughter said openmouthed. "How did you do it, mom?" Seeing her mother's unusual (and somewhat creepy) smile (more like misplaced grin), she quickly corrected, "Never mind. I _don't_ need to hear the details," she bit into her strawberry-jam sandwich.

"Well, I'm a bit sore from last night's activity, but it was worth it, wasn't it?" Aiko blushed red. She definitely didn't need to hear _that_.

"What details? And just what did you do last night to make you sore, mom? Are you sure you're okay?" Shugo asked, as he entered the dining room with a concerned face. His sister almost choked on her milk, earning her a weird look.

"Nothing, Shugo-dear. It's a… girl pep talk. Wash your hand before you have breakfast, dear. I'll go wake your father up," both women giggled as they looked at each other.

"…Did I miss something?" Aiko burst out laughing as she shook her head. "…" the blonde boy could only think that woman was weird. Their youngest brother entered the room; face was turning toward his mother as he frowned.

"What's up with mom?" he inquired curiously. He got a confused shrug from his brother and a louder giggle from his sister.

"Something about pep talk, according to mom," Shugo answered carefully with a frown. He stabbed his omelet and proceeded to eat.

"Ahh…" he nodded in understanding.

Shugo looked at his younger brother in shock. "You know about it?"

"Sure, it's about 'birds and bees', right?" his sister blinked.

Shugo scrunched his nose. "What's the relation between those animals with a girl pep talk?" Aiko couldn't help it, she burst out laughing. Her 4 years old brother even knew more than her 12 years old one about that, although a boy Mamoru's age wasn't supposed to know about it at all.

"Beats me. I don't even know why they use 'birds' and 'bees' in the same sentence."

Or perhaps not.

"Then why did you say about 'birds and bees' at all?"

"Well, that was what everyone always said when I asked them about pep talks. I have given up trying to understand what they meant," Mamoru shrugged and drank his milk.

"…" Shugo nodded slowly, although inside he was more confused.

That was it. He'd never understand woman, no matter how hard he tried to.

_In the afternoon_

Naruto sighed dejectedly. Why did he agree to allow his children go to Konoha? Damn that woman! She could be very persuasive when she wanted to be.

"**Hu hu hu. It seems that your will isn't as strong as I first thought,**" came the amused reply from his tenant. Naruto groaned. He really didn't want him to remind him about it.

/Oh no. Not you too/

"**As far as I see, I'm the first one to tell you that you have a crappy will"**

Naruto grumbled. That wasn't what he meant when he was saying 'too'. /So, what do you think? Should I let my son _and_ my daughter enter the chuunin exam? Should I even let the other genins enter it at all? I never go back on my own words, but this is a different thing and Yui had convinced me in my… eh… vulnerable situation…/

"**Vulnerable situation indeed" **The fox demon snuggled on his comfortable pillow, courtesy of Naruto who had changed the interior of his mind, and yawned lazily. Naruto sweat dropped. If people told him that Kyuubi of all things could be as lazy as this, he'd laugh at them. Now he had seen everything. "**Excuse me; it's not as if I can do anything else here!"** he protested. "**Your last fight had ended so abruptly I had no time to enjoy it! Perhaps next time you should fight against an Akatsuki member. They should be proven to be a challenge. Won't be that difficult to find them, since they will be the ones looking for you."**

/Perhaps, but they don't know that I'm your vessel, remember/

"…**Oh, right! Forgot about that. Then again, they're missing-nins, so it won't be strange if you hunt them."**

/I'll probably do that. I need a stress relief myself. But I can't do that now, I'm still busy. God, why did I agree to build this village again/

"**To prove your worth and MY worth, especially mine, that we can do something else beside destruction that all of them think that we're only capable of… although right now destruction is very, very preferable. This is so boring. Sure, it was first challenging, but somehow when you had succeeded it started to get boring." **

/True. I'm not really an office person. And look at me right now! Is that why you attacked Konoha, Soramaru-sama, because you're bored/

"**One of the reasons, yeah. Not many demons wanted to challenge me anymore, so I went to the human world. Konoha was the nearest hidden village on my path. I let your father use his jutsu on me so I could, well so I could get amused, I guess. I had never put in consideration that a human was able to summon a shinigami. That fuuinjutsu, although it is strong, is a slow technique. I was too stunned to see a human capable of doing that to jump away from my spot. Damn!"** He swore. "**This is why I want you to not underestimate your opponents. Kill them as quickly as you can. Do not disable, go for the kill, unless you want information from them of course. A desperate human usually will take desperate measure. That's an advice that I myself will never forget. It's a bit too late for that though."**The demon seemed to sigh in his cage.

/Well, back to the first thing. What should I do with my children/

"**Let them go. It will be an experience for them. They need it to become stronger. You can't force them to stay with you. Not only will they despise you for it, you'll stunt their growth."**

/Are you speaking from experience/ Naruto raised his eyebrow in question.

"**No, you dolt! I have no pup on my own. It's just my excellent wisdom."**

/…Yeah, right/

"**Shut up, before I make your stomach lurch beyond the capability of laxative that you'll have to stay in the bathroom for days!"** the fox snarled in annoyance.

/Fine, fine. Geez./ the host and tenant had toyed with their seal, enabling them to have a deeper connection, so the man could draw more strength from his tenant. On the other hand, Naruto could influence Kyuubi's cage too, such as making it as gloomy as possible or shrink the cage until the fox wouldn't be able to move a muscle. Naruto preferred to avoid conflict with his tenant.

"**Good. Show Konoha our strength. I want to see their shock when some day they realize that you're the boy they so despised**," he cackled. The fox's host snickered, agreeing with him.

/Wait, you're not going to do that by yourself/

"**No, as much as I'd like to. I want them to understand that not only can't they go against a high-level demon like me; they also don't have the strength to fight against their own human fellows. That they're weak. I want to crush their hope and their belief that they're invincible just because they had gone against me and live to tell the tale."**Kyuubi's nine tails swished around the room. A big evil grin could be easily spotted on his face. "**This is more entertaining than blowing them up to kingdom come, which I can easily do. This however need some considerate planning, giving me a challenge."** The fox demon cackled evilly.

/…Right./ the Sky leader sweat dropped.

00-00-00

Naruto stared at the scroll in his hand with a glare. Only 2 days had passed since Konoha's letter had come and now there was another chuunin exam invitation from Iwagakure (via Earth Country). He had the urge to tear his hair out in irritation. But since he loved his spiky (and shiny) hair (thank you very much) he only slammed his head on the desk in the end (causing his assistant to stare at him as if he had grown tails).

"ARGH! I can't fucking believe it!" His assistant took a step back, as he watched his utmost superior fumed. "First Konoha, now Iwa? And both of them are in the same time too!" He had no doubt that Stone was trying to gauge Sky's allegiance by holding the chuunin exam at the exact time as Konoha. Allegiance, his ass. Sky was neutral and wouldn't hold any allegiance toward other hidden villages! Not to Sand, not to Mist, not to Cloud, not to Stone and not to Leaf (definitely NOT to Leaf). If Stone was trying to bully Sky… Naruto growled and the pen in his hand cracked under pressure. The growl that came out of his lips sounded inhuman, a side effect of having Kyuubi inside him and using his power constantly.

"Erm… should I go back to my desk… sir?" Haiku, his assistant, squeaked.

"Huh? What?" he snapped out of his aggravated thought, noticing the presence of his black haired assistant. "Uh, yeah. Sure, why not?" The black haired man didn't need to be told twice to take his leave from the office.

Narue, the head of Foreign Affair Department glanced at the man as he ran past her in curiosity. The black haired woman turned to Naruto and noted his dark look, as he glared hotly at the scroll in his hand.

"Is there a problem?" the green eyed council member asked.

"Obviously," the blonde haired leader muttered. He threw the scroll to her.

She caught the opened scroll and scanned its content. "Hm… 'Iwa's chuunin exam will be prestigious… it is strongly recommended to enter the exam as it will benefit Sky in the future', oooh… I can see an intimidation attempt here," she raised an amused eyebrow. "And look, it is held at the exact time as Konoha's too. So, what'll you do, Naruto-sama?"

"Personally? I'd like to enter Iwa's instead of Konoha's chuunin exam for obvious reasons, but that will make us seems to be leaning toward Stone. And that's not something _we_ want. Iwa also had the gall of trying to bully us into submission! Perhaps we shouldn't enter either chuunin exam at all."

"_OR_… we can enter both of them," she suggested.

"_What_?" Naruto looked up.

"Why not?" she shrugged. "I mean we have many genins. It won't be difficult to pick some of them for Konoha's and Iwa's exam. And we have to show the world that we won't be intimidated easily."

"…Does that mean I can make Shugo enter Iwa's exam?" he asked himself.

00-00-00

"Absolutely NOT!" His eldest son glared defiantly.

"Oh, come on. It's just a chuunin exam," his father tried to dissuade him.

"Then you won't mind if I enter Konoha's exam, right?"

"I mind."

"Well, I don't care!"

"Unfortunately I'm the one who decides here," Naruto put his hands on his hip and looked down his son.

"But you promised mother that I can join Konoha's exam!" he protested.

"I did _not_. I only promised your mother that you can enter the chuunin exam, but I didn't tell her which one."

"That's because Iwa hadn't sent you its invitation at the time!" he scowled grouchily.

"So?" the older blond challenged.

"You can't do this to me!"

"Oh, I can, believe me, son. I'm your father and most importantly I'm the leader of this village. Which mean, dear son of mine, I can forbid you to go to Konoha!"

"**That's not a good way to boost his morale,**" Soramaru stated bored from his cage, a bit amused by his host' antics.

/Shut up/

"**Don't let me say 'I told you so' when it is over."**

/Shut the hell up. You're not helping here./

"**Uhum.**" Naruto thought that Kyuubi was going to comment again, but to his surprise, the fox demon stayed quiet.

"Y-You can't!" his son cried out.

Naruto stared at his son, daring him to challenge him. "Is that so?"

"I- I HATE YOU!" Shugo took off. Naruto winced.

"**Told you."**

/Shut the fuck UP/

Naruto sighed. "Well, that couldn't have gone better," he remarked with a scowl.

"Indeed, dad," Aiko said sarcastically from her spot. He knew she was eavesdropping, but let her do that. "Just for the record, I'm going to Konoha no matter what."

Naruto groaned. "Not you too!" _This is starting to become my favorite phrase these days_.

"Dad, please, you can't stop Shugo from going to Konoha just because of your bad experience there."

"I _can_." The red haired woman rolled her blue eyes.

"Do you even know why Shugo wanted to go there?" Naruto stayed silent. "Because he loves you, that's what! He wanted to know the village where you were born," she said.

"And it also the village which made me suffer."

"Dad, are you afraid that Konoha will do the same thing to Shugo?"

"…I'm not." Oh yes, she could see his real answer.

"Shugo is _not_ you. So he's your son, but Konoha doesn't know that. So his face is quite similar with yours, but he has no whisker marks to relate him with you. You have been gone from that place since you were what? Six years old? Most people would have forgotten about you by now. Beside I'll go there too. I can protect him and you know he can protect himself."

"…"

Aiko sighed. "I'll let you think about it alone," she left him.

00-00-00

Shugo was sulking on his room, his chin was planted on his desk, when his father opened the door quietly. He chose to ignore his presence.

"…You win. You can go to Konoha," he announced.

Shugo turned around quickly, but found his dad was already gone from the door. He quickly stood up and dashed out of his room. His eyes were facing his father's retreating back. The blonde boy ran toward him and hugged him from behind. "Thanks, dad."

Naruto sighed. "Just be careful there, okay?" he said without turning around to face his son. He _really_ didn't like this idea, but he couldn't hold back his son. "And there is a thing you have to remember," he said. "They may seem to be kind out front, but deep down they're real monsters."

"I won't forget it, dad."

Naruto took a deep breath and turned around. He lowered himself until he was facing him. "I just don't want you to get hurt. You look so much like me when I was young, minus the whisker mark," he quickly added. "When they know who you are, they'll try to hurt you. Not to mention if Akatsuki knows about me, they may be using you to get me."

"I guess that I just have to be careful then," he smiled.

Naruto snorted. "Heh, it's not as easy as you think, kid. So who are you going to choose as your partners? According to the rules, you have to be a three men team to be able to enter the exam."

"I guess Yukito. I was usually teamed up with him anyway, so I won't have to worry about teamwork. And perhaps Ryoga. His analyzing skill will help us in the long run and he's capable of defending himself. That is if he agrees to enter the exam."

"Hm, two offensive nins and a support nin as a team? Ryoga is that techno geek genin, right?" his son nodded. "Well, with his mark he'll be allowed to join the exam, so it won't be a problem. But you may want to bring enough med-pack with you since none of you took advanced medical program."

"Well, we're not aiming to become medic-nins," he shrugged. "So, any information about the exam?"

"Just that the last exam will be a tournament, as usual. Oh, and the participants will have a month to prepare themselves for the last exam. I'll arrange it so you all can go back here to receive training in Aoigetsuki and also to participate in our own private chuunin exam."

"…You mean I have to participate in that too?" he asked in disbelief.

"Of course."

"You have got to be kidding me!"

"Does that mean you won't go to Konoha?" Naruto smirked.

"NO WAY! I'm gonna enter it, no matter what! If you want me to participate in another exam, bring it on!"

00-00-00

"So, what do you think?"

"Sure, why not? It will be fun to go outside the village. What do you think, Ryoga?" Yukito asked the brown haired boy.

"Well, I'm still busy with the development of the simulation program, but what the heck, why not? I need refreshment anyway. And I'll be able to add my data of Konoha if I go there myself," he tapped his chin in thought.

"Too bad Miki won't be able to participate. Her individual mark isn't up to the standard, while there will be individual exams in Konoha's chuunin exam," Yukito said.

"Yea. But the Kazuhara twins (Towa and Noa) will be able to enter it. Wonder who they'll team up with."

"Netto said that they were asking him to be their partner, but he rejected the offer. He preferred to stay and work with our project, unfortunately. I once saw them with Soi, but I don't know if they asked her," Ryoga said, adjusting his silver rimmed glasses.

"Soi as in Yuzu Soi?" the brown haired boy nodded at the white haired boy's question. "If I'm not wrong she wanted to be a medic-nin, right?"

"That's right. She also studied genjutsu and is actually my rival. Man, she beat me once in our genjutsu match. I still can't believe she beat me," he ranted.

"At least now we know their team will be able to take care of themselves."

"True," and they left it at that.

00-00-00

"Okay, let's see… 29 candidates, 10 of them don't want to enter any of the exam, which left us with 19 genins. Three men team means there will be 6 teams, leaving out one genin to stay here. Three teams for each hidden village. There are already 3 genin teams formed, leaving 10 other genins to pick up their teammates, and the one who has no teammate will stay here. Now which teams should go to Konoha and which ones for Iwa?" Naruto immediately put his son's team on Konoha, while he put the other genin who seemed to have a grudge at his blonde son, Hazeda Kazuhi, and whoever his teammates would be to Stone. He'd finish the list after all teams were formed. "Now, who will be their jounin escorts?" Naruto wondered, as he read the high ranked ninjas list.

"Six teams means six ninjas… I'm a genius!" Naruto exclaimed. "This way I'll have them behind my back and won't be followed by my guards during that time! Oh right, I forget that Aiko want a free slot to be a jounin escort. Dang, that means I'll still have a guard with me, but then again it's better than having 6 ninjas following me around," he mused. With that he decided that 5 of his personal guards plus his daughter would be the jounin escorts. He wondered how they reacted to being 'demoted' to jounin escorts position. The blonde man chuckled.

00-00-00

Ginji crossed his arms hotly. "No way! Why should I lower myself to become a jounin escort?"

"Because it's my command, that's why," Naruto sighed. Why did everyone keep trying to defy him these days?

"But there are many other capable jounins out there," he cried out. "I'm your guard! I'm a 7-tails ranked ninja," he protested further. "And I have never even become a jounin instructor yet, and now you send me to escort a bunch of brats to their first mission outside country? You can't do this to me, Naruto-sama!"

"Believe me I can," Naruto muttered quietly. "This mission is crucial for our village's future and you always said that you want important mission, or am I wrong?" he said in a louder voice.

"No, but this so called _crucial_ mission is so lame," he protested.

"Are you a ninja or not? ("I AM!") A good ninja won't question his superior's order ("…That depends on the order," Naruto glared heatedly at the gulping ninja in front of him) and _will _carry out his mission as best as he can. If you can't even do the small thing right, why should I give you a bigger mission?" he asked pointedly, shutting up the man's mouth.

"Yes, Naruto-sama," he muttered dejectedly.

"Anyway, only 5 of you will be sent since my daughter want to become a jounin escort—"

"She volunteered?" he asked in disbelief.

"—Which means that there will be one of you that will stay with me," Ginji looked up with hopeful eyes. Naruto didn't understand, wasn't escorting him more boring than being a jounin escort to countries where there could be something wrong happening? "You guys decide on your own on who will stay here. Now, shoo!" the blonde man shooed him away.

His guard exited the house and Naruto let out a smile. "And that's the last! Man, they can be so easy at times."

00-00-00

"Jan Ken PON!" Ginji's hand was scissor, while Mizuki's hand was rock. Ginji's enthusiastic face turned to a horrified one, as he stared at his fingers in betrayal. Mizuki let out an uncharacteristic smirk on her face.

"NOOOOOOOOOOO! Mizuki you can't do this to me!"

The dark blue haired woman raised an eyebrow. "It seems that I can," with that she left Ginji alone to be unmercilessly teased by the others.

"Look here comes the loser!" Shouji smirked, earning him a scowl and a kick. "Hah, you can't touch me!" the brown haired man teased, dodging the blow and teleported out.

Ginji sighed. "Fine. Now who's going to which one?"

"Well, you and Shouji obviously need to be separated. It won't be good that the mission failed because you guys tried to kill each other in the chuunin exam," Kimimaro stated.

"Thank Soramaru-sama for the small favor!" he prayed and looked up to the sky in relief.

"I will go to Konoha to oversee both Shugo and my own son."

"Konoha?" he looked up. "Then I'll go with you, so that I can kick their asses for Naruto-sama!"

"And since you're so eager, you'll be sent to Iwa," Kimimaro finished with a mocking smirk.

"WHAT?" the others snickered at their incredulous comrade.

_Konoha, 8 days later_

Konoha's Sandaime put down Soragakure's letter and mused on what he had just read. It seemed that a Kazama would enter the exam. If what Kakashi guessed was right, the genin should be the Sky's leader's son. This in itself was strange, because according to Kakashi's report the blonde man (who they now knew as the Sky's leader) acted a bit hostile with his team in Wave and so were some other ninjas.

Somehow he had the intuition that it was related to the blonde boy who had run away years ago, but he had no proof. He took out Kazama Shugo's file that Sky had sent along with the other genins' and jounins' files. He couldn't help but notice his similarity with the Kyuubi vessel he still couldn't forget about yet. The file in itself wasn't complete. It only had the participant's name, photo, rank, age, number of missions that he had undertaken, names of his teammates, and the amount of successful missions.

Kazama Shugo

Age 12 years old

Rank: genin

Mission: 77 E-rank missions (failed four), 19 D-rank missions (failed one), 7 C-rank missions (failed one)

Chuunin exam's teammates: Kaguya Yukito, and Shinku Ryoga

Jounin escort: Kaguya Kimimaro

There was no other information aside from that, but it was nothing new. Other hidden villages wouldn't like to give information about their ninjas easily. The blonde Kazama was obviously qualified to take the exam with the amount of missions he had taken. There were other names that caught his eyes, which were the Kaguyas, and one Kazama Aiko. There were rumors that Kaguya's bloodline had been eliminated by Mist years ago when they rebelled. Obviously the rumor had been highly exaggerated. He also didn't know about this Kazama Aiko, but she must be Kazama Shugo's relative.

One thing that puzzled him was the E-rank mission. It seemed that Sky had other methods to rank the missions they got. As far as he knew, all hidden villages had D-rank as their lowest mission, except Sky of course.

According to his informant, Rock also invited Sky to its chuunin exam that 'coincidentally' was at the same time as Konoha's. Instead of choosing one of them, Sky simply entered both exams. Sky had announced indirectly that it took a neutral stance. Neutral was better than being outright an enemy. That would be an unneeded problem.

He looked at the file his informant sent him of what he had seen in Wave. So far the construction on Fune Island mostly consisted of 2 or 3-stories buildings, with the first floor used as a shop and the next floor used as a residential place. That in itself wasn't surprising as Fune was designed as trading ground for Sky (although creating a trading ground on this scale in a hidden village was actually highly unusual as most hidden villages relied on missions for their economy instead of trade). What he wondered about was where exactly Sky's base was at the moment. They had to have a nearby base that they were able to switch their genins from every couple of hours. He had suspected they built a base in one of the islands nearby, but that was never proven true, as he hadn't received any report from one of his informants that planned to infiltrate the security placed on other islands. Either the man was captured or killed. He didn't like both prospects.

He also received other news that an underground company had taken over most of Gatou's former businesses. He knew that his businesses wouldn't just crumbled down easily after the crime lord was taken down, but he at least expected that there would be many people who tried to take over his businesses and waged war to each other and causing chaos from within. Instead, another underground company with organized management managed to swallow the businesses in a time that could be considered fairly short.

A further digging uncovered the information that this company, Tsubasa Inc., was a rising company that had been founded 2 years ago and focused on technological advancement. Well it seemed that they started to branch into other businesses now if their attempts to take over Gatou's dirty businesses were anything to go by. For a surprisingly new company, it was pretty strong to stand its ground and rebuffed all attempts of many other more older and definitely superior companies trying to claim the businesses. Two bigger companies were destroyed quite literally only hours after they started to harass Tsubasa Inc. Some others had backed down after the news was received. He then told his spies to keep their eyes on the corporation. A rising successful company like this shouldn't be left around unchecked or Konoha would have another Gatou incident to deal with.

Sandaime groaned when he remembered that the council would want to know the news. He remembered the letter Sky sent to Konoha. Sky would agree to enter with some conditions. First, no harm should befall their people in Konoha outside the exams. Second, during the one month duration before the final exam, Sky would take their genins back for further training in their own village and would be back to Konoha a day before the tournament started. Third, if the Sky leader ever came to the Leaf in the final exam, he would be allowed ninja escorts. Most of the council showed their displeasure at what they called 'blatant disrespect' ("A tiny fledging village like it dares to demand from us? Unacceptable!) and suggested the old man to refuse their demands.

Sandaime quickly shut them up, by telling them that their demands were already being allowed even before they asked for them. It was a matter of honor for Konoha to keep the people they invited safe, except when the exam was running. And the one month duration outside Konoha was allowed. Most genins just didn't go back to their own villages because it would cut down their training time for traveling. Having ninja escorts for a leader like the Yondaime's relative was also an usual thing to do. The unsatisfied members exited the meeting room, disgruntled and defeated.

The Third called for Koutetsu, one of his assistants, to make a copy of the Sky genins' list and sent the copy to one Morino Ibiki.

"I have become too old for this shit," he muttered tiredly just as Koutetsu was out of the earshot.

00-00-00

Four genins and a jounin teacher were watching a taijutsu match between 2 genins. It was clear that the blonde one dominated the fight, but let his opponent fight a bit longer before he sent a spin kick right at the jumping genin's abdomen and put his clenching fist right at his throat when he landed on the ground painfully. The middle finger was stuck out and if the blonde genin didn't stop he would have destroyed his opponent's larynx.

"Alright, stop!" the brown haired jounin clapped and motioned them to come around. The blond offered his hand to his fallen classmate. Giving him a small smile, the brown haired genin grasped the outstretched hand. "Good match, both of you. But Reiji, I expect you to improve by the next week. You're still too sloppy. I want you to train your reflex time. Training in trap field 12 would be good for you. Also, if your brother could spare his time a bit for you, then spar with him. He would be able to give you advices for your family taijutsu style better than me. Still, I want you to think outside the box, give your opponent a surprise or two to befuddle him. You should check other taijutsu styles outside our family's style too," the brown haired genin grimaced when his teacher spoke about the training field. He had a bad experience of having his ribs cracked months ago, but nodded nonetheless.

"I will do it with extreme displeasure, sensei," he muttered in defeated manner, causing the older man's lips to twitch in amusement. He remembered about the accident involving one of his students in one of the trap fields.

"As for you, Shugo," the black haired jounin rested his green eyes on the blue eyed blonde. "If that was real battle I don't want you to toy with your opponent. Incapacitate them as quickly as possible to avoid further headache if something goes wrong. Your current speed and strength are good for someone your age, but I want you to improve them more. You're wearing weights, are you not?"

"Yes, sir. Thirty pounds each on my wrists and 50 for my ankles."

"The jounin nodded. "Added a further 5 pounds to each of them. Next week, I expect you to show me the same speed you had displayed today with your weights or more. Up your strength too. I want you to swim in the Enkou River, make sure you don't drown yourself there, young man," he added sternly. "Ask someone to oversee your training." Shugo nodded dejectedly. It wasn't like he hated swimming. No, the problem was that the river was cold, built exactly like that and all, and the current was strong too. Swimming there was a good way to develop stronger arms' muscles, _if_ he didn't drown first of course. "Good, take these!" he gave the two genins a scroll each. "I thought the technique in there would compliment with your taijutsu style. Read it at home. Now I want sit-ups, push-ups, squats; the usual. Ten minutes each and record your achievement like usual," he commanded.

Both genins nodded and walked away.

The jounin turned to the rest of the group. "Ryo, Jin, you two fight. Others, you can either watch the fight or do whatever you want as long as you don't disturb the match, get it? Good," he didn't wait for an answer.

During the match, the jounin's ear clip bipped, earning the attention of the two combatants. "Resume your battle," he told them. "Nakajima Yuu speaking," he stated. His eyes perked, "Gou, what is it?" He paused as the man in the other end of the communication talked. "Eh? You're sick and want me to supervise your students tomorrow? Sorry, I can't! I have another class to teach that day. Hey, Jiiro is free tomorrow. Why don't you ask him? Oh, right, he's a genjutsu specialist, not taijutsu, almost forget about that. Sorry, but I can't think of anyone else. You should ask the administration's help. I'm sure they'll be able to find someone, or if they can't you can just change the lesson day until you're fit enough," Shugo's taijutsu jounin said, as he watched over his pupils' fight. "Okay. Get better soon!" and the line went dead.

"Sensei, are we going to spar again next week?" one of his students that weren't fighting asked.

"Nope. After I check your progress, we'll go to the beach below Koori Island and run laps there. Water walking isn't allowed though. We're going to focus on strength afterwards." The genins nodded.

"Understood, sensei."

Meanwhile, Shugo was walking down the street when he noticed that the newest Sky recruit was walking down with a dark look plastered on his face. His hands kept clenching tightly, as if he tried not to hit someone who had annoyed him, most probably that someone was his annoying relative that was hovering around him happily.

"FOR THE LAST TIME, I DON'T NEED YOUR FUCKING HELP!" Haku shouted hoarsely for yelling an hour nonstop against his stupid cousin.

"Aw, come one, coz. We're family. And family always helps each other."

"Well, this cousin of yours doesn't need or _want_ your help! And if you truly want to help me, then get the hell out of my sight!" he blew out grumpily.

"Aw, you're so adorable when you do that," Haru teased. He laughed as he dodged a dozen ice shards sent by a glaring Haku.

Shugo sighed, pitying the black haired boy. "Haru-san, Haku, how're you doing?"

"Shugo-kun," the older boy bowed in greeting. "I'm fine with the exception of this infuriating leech that doesn't want to get off of my skin," Haku gave the blond his best smile.

His older cousin placed his hand above his heart and moaned. "Ouch. You hurt my fragile heart, little coz. I'm wounded."

"Fragile heart, my ass," Haku glowered. He couldn't help but cursing around his cousin's vicinity. He was so unbelievably annoying. 'Zabuza-san, give me strength!' Haku prayed inwardly.

"So, Haku-kun, are you going to enter the chuunin exam?" Shugo promptly asked, hoping to avoid the feminine boy from blowing up.

"Eh? Konoha's and Iwa's exams? No, I don't. Will you go?"

"Actually I meant our own chuunin exam. But yes, I'll go to Konoha's exam."

"We will hold chuunin exam?" Haku asked in confusion. Shugo smiled inwardly when he noticed that Haku called Sky village as 'we'. That meant he already accepted Sky as his home.

"Yes. It's during the one month duration before the final exam, which is a tournament. We'll hold it in Aoigetsuki. That way, we'll have plenty of time for our own exam and training for the tournament."

Haku nodded in understanding. At first he was confused if Sky would hold its own exam in under a month, but he then finally understood the reason after he said it would be held in Aoigetsuki. The first time he found out about the third realm, he was stunned to find that there was another realm outside his current realm, where time was slower there than here. He shuddered when he found that there was a _demon_ realm, and more crazily the jounin exam was held there. Talk about insanity! He himself hadn't entered the third realm yet, but he heard that it was quite beautiful albeit the inhabitants that resided there were more dangerous than the animals in the human world.

"Hmm…I don't know yet. I'll think of it later," Haku said. Then he flicked his glance on his smiling cousin. "You're still here?" he sighed in exasperation.

"You want to kick me out?" Haru's eyes widened.

Haku sighed. "That's what I've been doing for these months." His older cousin smirked, causing him to roll his eyes. "Forget it," he dragged himself in a defeated manner, no longer caring if his cousin followed him. He was starting to get used of it.

"Man, if he gets like that, it means that he won't react anymore toward me. I guess I'll find another victim. But it's a pity, my adorable cousin is my favorite victim," Haru muttered before he teleported out. Naruto's oldest son rolled his eyes at his antics.

"Ne, Haku, what do you think of Sky?" he raced toward him and walked side by side.

Haku looked around him. "He's gone?" Shugo nodded in amusement. "YES!" If only dancing in public like crazy would make him lose his face, Haku would've done it.

"You still haven't answered my question."

"Huh? Oh, yes. Well… you can say Sky is the weirdest hidden village I've ever seen."

"…Weirdest?" Shugo didn't know whether to be happy or offended.

"Well, I don't mean it in a bad way. Just… it's very different. A hidden village in the Sky? If I wasn't told that demons were the ones to help creating this village, I wouldn't believe it. It's also a self-sustaining village, so there is no need to import things, and yet the council intended to make one of the islands below into a trading ground. A large scale trading ground. It's a hidden village, right?"

"It is," Shugo assured him.

"And the level of technology used here… I know that other hidden villages use technology too, but their use is limited and not to this kind of level. Here technology is part of your daily life."

"Well, we Sky ninjas are trained to live without technology too, but it _is_ making our lives easier even if we're expected to not rely on technology. If you're wondering why we have better tech, we have Soramaru-sama's help. He has memories of past ancient civilization and was able to help us find the ruins. From there on, we tried to learn as much as possible about past civilization's technology and researched it. The shuseki stone is a pretty important part of our tech that makes a difference between us and past society."

"Hm, I have heard of this ancient civilization. Make you wonder why they're now a history."

"Actually they blew each other up with nuclear—think of it as a poison bomb that can cover hundreds of kilometers. Humans went back to the Stone Age in months."

"That's frightening. I hope it won't happen to us."

"True. Then again if it really happened we'll turn back to Aoigetsuki and let them destroy each other."

"But I heard humans, even when they were enhanced by the fox seal were only able to live there for 20 years in row although they can still occasionally enter it."

"That's true. But by then I'm sure that the commotion in ningenkai is already over, and even if it isn't over yet we can always explore other worlds."

"…"

"You don't think there are only 3 worlds: Makai, ningenkai, and Aoigetsuki, right?"

"…"

"There are other worlds out there. But the easier ones accessible to the bijuus are these 3 worlds. With the right amount of power, we can access the gate to other worlds."

"I have never heard about this before."

"That's because it's not a common knowledge, even here. My dad was told by Soramaru-sama and in turn he told me. So, how is your life as genin?" he asked, changing the subject. It was depressing to think about war.

"It's alright, I guess. Though I was somewhat surprised that the genins weren't split into different teams."

"Yes, it's to promote teamwork among genins. They're allowed to have different partners for different missions. But once a week, genins will have no choice but to adhere to administration's choice of partner. Usually it is among those who haven't teamed up yet with each other. If you don't get along with your partner in the mission, let's just say that the admin will continue to team you up with said partner. That way, if you want to get rid of each other you better get along with your partner during the mission. Being genins here is more like being an academy student, only with harder and specialized training. Their strength and weakness during their academy time are noted and then the admin will suggest them the classes they should take after they graduated. But of course it's different for recruits like you."

"What about Sky chuunin and jounin?"

"They're basically the same as in other hidden villages. Still no fixed teams. But there are no longer classes for them like the genins have. If they want to improve they have to do it on their own, asking for apprenticeship, learning from books in the library, using the ancient method-but still effective-which is training etc. Basically more freedom for them. If you have a clan on your own it'll be easier, because you can just ask for your clan's help." Haku grimaced at the prospect of asking Haru's help. Shugo snickered when he saw his sour face. "Thinking about your cousin?"

Haku sighed. "Yes, I am."

"Have you adjusted to Sky?"

"Well, yes… I think. I still have problem using those electronics, especially the computer, but other than that I think it's okay. You know, if the housing buildings in Koori Island are finished, I'm planning to move out there. As far away as possible from _him_."

Shugo laughed. "Well, you better don't tell your plan to _him_ otherwise he'll follow you."

"You're kidding me!" he said in panicky voice. "You don't think he'll stalk me forever, do you?"

"Dunno. But he has stalked you for months," the blonde boy pointed out.

Haku groaned in agony. "Don't remind me of that," he pleaded, earning another bout of laugh from the younger ninja, as they walked together.

TBC…

Hey, it's finished at last. I actually had done the 12 pages since 2 weeks ago, but had just finished it now. I'm in the middle of mid exam right now. And there are many assignments handed to me before, so I have been in no mood to write anything. I was also busy because I have just moved out into another boarding house. The room is bigger (though it is more expensive) and it's closer to my university (actually it's just next door to my old boarding house. Then again my boarding house whether it is the old or the new one, both of them were directly in front of the campus). I have more friends (but also more spies that can report to my brother of my wrong doings… such as playing instead of studying. Sigh).

Oh yeah, about 'bird and bees'… I really don't know why they used it, instead of 'honey and bees' because it makes more sense to me. Someone can tell me why people used 'bird and bees' instead of 'honey and bees'? I'm curious here.

Well hopefully the story above can tell you more about Sky's ninja system. And Haku has appeared once again even though he will not enter Konoha's or Iwa's chuunin exam.


	21. 20 Complications All Around

Author's Note: well, some of you had asked about the Sky's headband…here it is.

This chapter is edited by KarinMS. Thanks a lot, girl.

**Chapter Twenty: Complications all around**

It should be a happy day for Naruto. After all it would be a special day for his eldest son. The boy would be allowed to venture out of the safety of Soragakure for the first time. It turned out to be a miserable day for the leader of Sky because his son's destination was Konoha; a village that he despised (and the one he encouraged his son to spurn).

The moment he woke up he got a headache. He looked tired and didn't have enough sleep. The man sighed tiredly and forced himself to get out of the bed. He wouldn't be able to go back to sleep again anyway. Normally he woke up at 7 (it was nice to have secretaries and the administration department taking the brunt of his paperwork: more spare time to laze off), 2 hours after his wife rose from the bed, but today he was awakened even before the sun rose. He changed his wardrobe and exited the house, wanting to clear his mind a bit.

He looked better when he was back 3 hours later but there was still a scowl plastered on his face, telling others about his grumpy mood. His wife didn't say anything when he entered the kitchen and sat on a chair. Mamoru was still happily sleeping in his bed while Shugo and Aiko were there, already eating their breakfast, as they watched their father carefully. He usually greeted them.

"Looks like this day has come, huh?" he broke the silence, watching both of his children. They nodded in silence, noticing his mood. "Have you made preparations?"

"Of course, dad."

"Good. You'll be given extra things later before you depart. The ninjas that were chosen to attend Rock's exam will depart at the same time as you. If something happens, I want you to contact me, _immediately_." Both of them nodded. Yui put a plate of food in front of her husband, and he started to eat, clamming up once again. When the awkward meal was over Naruto, followed by his children, went to Seiken Tower where others were already waiting.

The genins and jounin escorts were given more weapons and medical kits and also other equipments stored into scrolls. They received explanations of what was stored inside the scrolls and also how to behave in the other hidden villages.

"The data pad in your hand have information that we gathered on Leaf or Rock. We have compiled as much data as we could; general information, map, clans and their specialties and bloodlines. When you're there, you're expected to gather more data of both Leaf and Rock for updating our data, but make it subtle," a brown haired jounin informed them. He also presented them each with their new hitae-ate. "These will be our official hitae-ate. They'll be delivered to other ninjas in two days, but since you're representing Sky and have to leave, you get it now." The ninjas were staring at their hitae-ate. There was an upturned triangle and two slashes in front of the triangle (it's like moon/sun behind two clouds, but changes the moon/sun with triangle). They immediately assumed that the slashes were clouds and the triangle the hikouki/flying island. Shugo fastened the headband on his forehead, while Yukito preferred to place it on his arm. "Lastly, you have to listen to your jounin escorts at all time." The man nodded to Naruto who immediately took over the speech.

"I'm not good at speeches even though I have led Sky for decades, so I'll cut it short. Beside, young people don't like boring speeches, so I'll spare you from it," he smiled contagiously. Shugo rolled his eyes, while the others snickered. "Needless to say you already know what you have agreed to enter. The chuunin exams outside our territory will be a good way to gain experience and to get to know other villages and how they operate. You also already know that we will hold our own exam during the time before the last exam in Iwa and Konoha and that you're expected to enter it. Don't slack of training when you're away!" Naruto warned. "I just want to say that you will represent us there. Your action will reflect Sky, so don't make any trouble there… unless it is trouble that is following you, _that_ you can defend yourselves against. Actually, never mind about that! You can make trouble as long as no one knows that you're the one who did the deed," he added cheekily, causing the genins to cheer. His daughter stared at him accusingly, but Naruto didn't react. "But I'm sure that you know where to draw the line. If any of you are promoted to become chuunin in the exam, I'm sorry to say that it won't work that way here… you'll get a bonus though. But if your jounin escorts feel that you're ready to accept the rank, you'll earn it," he sent a look at the assembled jounins who quickly nodded. "Lastly, don't kill yourselves over an exam if you find it too difficult for you or you're out of the league of your opponent. You still have a future and it won't do if you throw it away for an exam that doesn't even affect your rank. And I don't mean to deter you, okay. I also want to tell you that you have to help the others and I don't want any killing amongst you. Ok, that's all. Good luck!"

Before the assembled could applaud, Kimimaro stepped forward, "Naruto-sama, may I tell the genins something?" Naruto raised an eyebrow, but nodded nonetheless. "All of you perhaps already know about this, but I'll say it for reminder anyway. You know that Sky have gained curiosity from other villages and countries. Be on your guard for people will try to use this chance to collect data about us. They'll probably try subtle approaches, so make sure you watch what you say. That's all." Naruto nodded at the Kaguya patriarch.

"Before you go; check your belongings again, please. You're not allowed to use the sharns to mail them later," a jounin reminded them. "You have…" he looked at his watch, "an hour to do this, tell your goodbyes to your families, eat etc. After that, assemble here again. Dismissed!" they all dispersed.

The Kazama family went back to their household where Mamoru had already woken up from his slumber. Naruto didn't speak much to his son because they already had a heart-to-heart talk last night and he knew his daughter was able to defend herself, so he only watched them checking on their belongings and adding more things to their backpacks.

"Dad, I'm going to talk to Kaze-nii," Aiko was talking about her best friend that had given her a pair of small fans as weapons to compliment her wind style. The man, Yazuno Kazeki, was Kikumi Shiho's nephew and had the same bloodline as hers; although he worked on Poison and Potion Department instead of Medical Treatment Department like his aunt, with being medic-nin as a part time job.

"As long as you won't be late it's fine by me, princess," he told her affectionately. She thanked him by kissing her father's cheek and bolted out of the room.

"One hundred ryos say that she's going to hook up with him soon," Shugo whispered to his red haired brother, proud that he wasn't as dense as people thought about love life. Mamoru simply blinked.

"Whatever."

An hour later the six genin teams were sent on their way, riding the demon birds. The three genin teams that were sent to Rock had separated themselves and went on their own way. This time Shugo chose to sit on the bird's back, knowing that it would be hours before they arrived at Konoha and their escorts wouldn't let them race. Yukito only had his father to watch him, while he had all three of them watching him like a hawk. He didn't want to deal with Kimimaro, his sister or Shouji for something as petty as a small race. It simply wasn't worth the trouble.

The birds were traveling on average speed, flying above the clouds so they couldn't be seen by people beneath. During their journey, they met a group of Sky jounins who were returning to Wave after their mission. The groups saluted each other before they parted ways.

Hours later, a Konoha sentry guard was yawning when he looked up at the sky. His eyes were looking at the spots in the sky he thought was a flock of birds. Oh, they were birds, alright, but they weren't the small birds he thought they should be. He blinked and rubbed his eyes, but the spots were getting bigger. He snatched a binocular and watched it. By this time the other sentry guards had also noticed the giant birds and were whispering to each other. The birds landed half a mile outside Konoha in the forest, before they took off again after few moments. As fast as they had appeared, the birds disappeared into the cloud.

Ten minutes later a group of foreign ninjas walked into their line of sight casually. Each of them was wearing similar backpacks with color differences. There were nine young ninjas and three older ninjas. They immediately assumed that they were genins from another village that would participate in the exam. The gate guard blinked when he didn't recognize the symbol etched on their hitae-ate.

"Halt! Who are you?"

Kimimaro took out a scroll and handed it to the guard. The brown haired man opened it, read it and then looked back and forth between the scroll and the foreign ninjas. His comrades were watching them curiously.

"So you are the Sky contingent?" Kimimaro and Aiko nodded. "May I see your passes? We should've sent them to you," he said. It was Shouji who handed out the pass cards. He didn't give them to the genins because there was a possibility they'd forget to bring them along. The guard checked the pass cards and compared them with the list given by the admin. He nodded and gave them back. This time Shouji handed the cards to the genins who looked at them inquisitively. "Someone will be sent to escort you to the hotel and give you a small tour so you won't get lost," he said, holding them back at the gate.

Half an hour later said guide arrived at the gate. The guard was a bit disturbed to see that none of them uttered anything during that time, even to their own ninja comrades. It seemed like they were lost in their own world.

"Ah, Sky contingent, is it?" the guide was a smiling red wavy haired woman with green eyes. "I'll give you a little tour with your hotel as your last destination," the Sky ninjas followed her. "My name is Hizagumi Maya. And if you have any questions I'll answer as best as I can. Before I proceed, may I know with whom I'm talking to?"

"Kaguya Kimimaro."

"Yakimaru Shouji."

"Kazama Aiko," the guide perked up.

"Kazama Shugo."

"Kaguya Yukito."

"Kazuhara Towa."

"And I'm his twin, Noa."

"Shinku Ryoga," the brown haired genin adjusted his glasses.

"Yuzu Soi," a blonde genin exclaimed.

"…Nakajima Suou," he nodded at the guide.

"Soryuu Akira," the genin scowled and closed his blue eyes.

"And I am Umogata Momoka," a red haired version of Tenten (they both have twin buns) stated.

(AN: when I write about the Sky genins at Rock, I won't name them all. Jesus! Even as its own author, I have to read my list of character constantly. I really should start considering naming all of my OCs)

The guide nodded. "So, some of you are relatives, judging from the surnames," she baited subtly, but only received nods. Disappointed she tried another way. "Our yondaime was also a Kazama, are you by any chance his relatives?" she asked the Kazama siblings.

"He might be a relative," Aiko answered. "I don't really care much about genealogy," she shrugged.

"Dad had said he was a relative," Shugo, knowing that Konoha already knew about it since his father had admitted it, decided to answer.

"Really? Do you know how close?"

"Uh, not to sound rude or anything, but this is a tour so we don't get lost, right?" Aiko cut off.

The woman blinked. "Oh my, yes, you're right. I'm sorry. It's just the fourth is Konoha's hero."

"That's nice," Yukito elbowed his friend who glared at him.

While the tour went on, Ryoga was busy using his glasses to record everything it could see. He'd be able to compare the data with the map on the data pad and the map the guide had given them later. The tour had been cut short because the sun had almost set in the west. The guide, Maya, had told them that she'd be happy to take them for another tour the next day. The genins immediately refused it, as they wanted to explore on their own. Worried about their genins (Read: they don't trust them to not make any trouble), the jounin escorts eventually declined it too. Although she wasn't happy none of them accept her offer, Maya eventually accepted it, but told them that they had to bring their pass cards along when they were still in Konoha's vicinity.

When they arrived at their designated hotel, they found out that teams from other villages were sent to different hotels to avoid conflicts. Their hotel was located nearby a shopping district, so they would be able to procure items easier. They had five days before the exam started.

"Soi, Noa, hurry up!" Momoka cried out. She wanted to drag both of them on a shopping spree, but the two were reluctant. Soi, because she felt she had something else to do, and Noa because she felt that shopping was stupid. But the red haired girl didn't want to take 'no' for an answer and forced them. In the end, poor Towa was dragged by his sister who thought that if she had to suffer her twin should suffer for her too. The other genins were sweat dropping, as they watched Momoka drag Noa and Noa drag Towa with her forcefully, followed by a sighing Soi. Towa, who was usually a reserved boy, screamed out for help from the other guys but they stood rooted on their spot; not wanting to get involved. The group disappeared from view before any of the jounin escorts was able to follow them. The older ninjas sweat dropped.

Shouji sighed and turned to his comrades. "I'll follow them," he said before he flickered out.

"…I guess that Towa won't be joining us then," Yukito commented, earning him snorts.

The five genins and two jounin escorts walked around Konoha, taking notes and generally having fun while they were collecting data, when Shugo scowled and decided to stop walking and turning around to see a bad attempt of rock disguise… a perfectly square rock was following them. The others, sensing that Shugo stopped walking followed his lead. They had allowed it to follow them around for an hour or so because they detected no threat from it and it was kind of funny in a way. The chakra levels were that of academy students. But apparently the first son of Sky's leader decided that enough was enough and he'd like to get rid of them. They wondered if the kids were following them around as a dare.

"Okay, we already know that you were following us ever since the start. Can you, I don't know, make yourself scarce and go bother someone else?" he tapped his foot on the ground impatiently.

There was a burst of smoke and the sound of children… in a coughing fit. "Damn it, too much gun powder!" the Sky ninjas sweat dropped. When the smoke subsided, the boy who was coughing immediately posed when he saw them staring incredulously at him. "You knew that I was hiding thus you must be a great ninja!"

"Um… thanks?" Shugo replied unsurely.

"I'm Konohamaru!"

"Udon!" a kid who looked as if he needed to be administered to a doctor quickly because he seemed to have bad cold shouted and posed.

"And I'm Moegi!" a young girl tried to pose as a sexy kunoichi but only managed to make a fool of herself, not that she knew it.

"We are the Konohamaru Corps!" the Sky group blinked. "And we've decided to make you as our rival!"

"Uh… no thanks, kid," Shugo immediately scurried off. If there were people to be avoided, they were the enthusiastic (and seemingly crazy) people. Who had the right mind to suddenly challenge someone like that? Obviously these children didn't.

"Hah, I knew it! You're afraid of my greatness!"

"…whatever. Let's go, guys," he grabbed Yukito and dashed off.

"God damnit, Shugo! Don't leave us with these crazies!" Akira shouted and followed suit. The others sighed and left the stunned children.

"Uh, leader, they're all gone," Udon sniffed.

Konohamaru who was still pointing his finger to the sky immediately snapped out of his mind and laughed outwardly, while he was seething inside. "Ha! Ha! They must be afraid of me!" _How dare they ignore me!_ He had eavesdropped on his grandpa's conversations about how mysterious Sky was and was curious to see them. They had researched (more like nagging others) about Sky and now that they had spoken to them they seemed like a bunch of rude people.

The group was relieved when they were able to escape those insane brats.

"Sheesh! What's up with those kids?" Akira grumbled. "Don't their teachers teach them to not approach strangers or something? Especially from other hidden villages?"

"They must have forgotten about that lesson," Suou shrugged, not really caring about how Konoha ninjas worked.

"Come on, we have a city to explore!" Aiko dragged her brother around.

"Aneki, lemme go!" the blond protested at the rough handling. "I can walk on my own, thank you very much. Beside this is undignified!" he flailed his arms.

"Okay," she dropped him on the ground.

"What did you do that for?" he asked angrily.

"You asked me to." Shugo fumed at his sister as he dusted his pants.

"Ok, enough of the… family sap, we have things to do," the elder Kaguya dreaded that these two would cause them problems.

"Ne, tousan!"

"Hm?" he looked at his son.

"We have five days to prepare for the chuunin exam, right?" Kimimaro nodded. "Where should we train?"

"Saa, but I'm sure they'll let us to use one of the training grounds. I'll sort it out later. Come on, the others have left us!" he pointed to the shouting Shugo in distance who waved for them to come quickly.

Shikamaru was bored out of his mind and looking out the window of the restaurant, waiting for Chouji to finish his 10th barbeque plate and ignoring Ino who was ranting at him when he saw a group of genins around his age he had never seen before. He wondered if they were from other hidden villages, coming for the chuunin exam, when he saw their hitae-ates. He didn't know the symbol of their village.

"Ne, Asuma-sensei, where do you think the group come from?" he interrupted Ino in the middle of her ranting.

The smoking jounin turned around to see where his student pointed at. He blinked when he saw their symbol. It wasn't something he knew of either. "Eh… must be Sky ninjas. The other unfamiliar village is Sound and their symbol is musical note. So Sky has chosen that symbol as their village's icon? When their letter arrived they had yet to have an icon," he muttered to himself.

"Sound? Sky?" Ino asked with a frown. "Never heard of them."

"That's because they are new villages. Hm, I think Sound came from Rice Country… their letter was sent from that country. Then again it could be a hoax to protect their location. Sky is located in Wave Country. I think Kakashi's team 7 and Gai's team had met their Sky ninjas on their C-rank mission about four or five months ago," he mulled over.

"Eh? Sasuke-kun had met them? Wait, Wave Country? Uh… where have I heard of it before?"

"It was a poor archipelago country on the south of Water Country and Fire's East… well, until five months ago when Sky killed one of the biggest Water's crime lords to date, Gatou, who had taken over Wave for years in exchange for permission to set up their village there, anyway. Now the country is prospering. It was big news, so perhaps that's where you've heard of it," the huge jounin wondered how much he should say about the newest hidden village to exist.

"Wasn't there a mercenary group named Sky? They're said to be the best of the best," Shikamaru added a cent in. Chouji blinked as he gobbled down his food and asked for another plate. Asuma was looking at his wallet in sorrow. Why couldn't he have more students like Ino? Sure, she was bitching every time, but a kunoichi on diet wouldn't empty his wallet as quickly as this… vacuum cleaner.

"No way! Konoha is the best!" she shouted.

"Well, it was said that they had never failed a mission before," Asuma shrugged and turned back to the window to see the ninja group was arguing about something. The ninjas were then splitting into two groups. One of them was heading toward the restaurant they were currently in. "According to the rumor when they were still a mercenary group they didn't accept any mission lower than B-rank. Not sure that they'll keep their policy when they are now an official hidden village though."

(AN: the missions that were done outside village were high missions, so no genin was assigned)

The ones who entered the restaurant were four people: three genins and one jounin. The red haired woman muttered something about 'Ramen addicted brat' in annoyance, leaning against the couch.

"At least he isn't as bad as when he was younger," the brown haired genin with glasses and observant eyes said to the older ninja.

"That was because our mother specifically _told_ him to reduce the amount of ramen he _and_ father ate. Honestly I thought she said that because she—and I actually—were heartily sick of serving and smelling ramen in every breakfast, lunch and dinner. She was worse off when she was pregnant with Mamoru. And unless they wanted to be thrown out of the house for making her puke every time she saw and smelt ramen, they had to trim down the amount of ramen they ate or face her ire. Shugo got it worse than father because she decided that eating ramen was hazardous to his health and would stunt his growth, thus she monitored him constantly, only allowing him to eat it from time to time," the female jounin rolled her eyes.

"Why were they so crazy about ramen anyway?" Suou asked, intrigued.

"Saa. I know that father likes spicy food, especially after he ate mostly bland food in his younger days, so perhaps that's the reason, but I don't know about Shugo. Must be one of his quirks," she shrugged and turned to the waitress who gave them menus. "I'd like to have a beef yakiniku, please," she said to the waitress. The others followed suit by choosing their meals; dismissing their questions about Shugo, their supreme leader and ramen obsession.

"Ne, Aiko-sama," the teen would have winced years ago, but she had gotten used to it. "We still have four full days before the exam, are we going to train as a team or individuals?"

Aiko was thoughtful for a moment before she spoke, "I guess that we'll just have to request the use of one of Konoha's training grounds. After we meet with the others, we'll go to the administration. And about training… let me see your charts," each genin took out a small white device that had a big screen and several flat buttons and inserted a chip inside its small opening, before giving the chip to her. She accepted them. "Thanks, I'll look at them later," the genins nodded appreciatively. "We'll train as a team. I don't think you guys have had enough team training before now."

The Leaf ninjas looked over Sky ninjas intriguingly, even the lazy ass Shikamaru. They wondered if they had noticed them there. The Sky ninjas were three tables across from them. Asuma, who was a jounin and thus was asked to keep an eye on Sky, was trying to find out more about them, but it was pretty difficult since the group didn't talk loudly.

"Aiko-san, what can you tell us about the upcoming exam?" Ryoga asked, as he took out his laptop and switched it on.

"Hm… well there will be three parts of the exam. The last part will be a battle tournament, obviously. There is always a survival exam included, so make sure you always bring your packs because there is a possibility the examiner won't give you the time to pick them up. Shinobis are expected to be able to survive in the wilderness, but I think you'll breeze over this part, unless you meet tough opponents. I'm not really sure about the other part. It can be ranging from teamwork test, information gathering, interrogation countering… the list is endless. One thing you have to know though, the test won't just be about taijutsu, or the others. Ninjas have different abilities, strength and weakness. It won't be fair for those who are weak in hand-to-hand combat to have a pure taijutsu battle as an exam. These tests will determine your wits, knowledge, abilities, endurance, how to act under pressure, how to make swift decision, resolve, courage and craftiness among other things. My advice to you is to not buckle under pressure, don't let your pride blind you, don't rush blindly, you have to remember that not everything is truly what they look like. I want you to use your brain rather than just your brawn. Look underneath the undernea—Ryoga-kun, you're recording my words?" she looked at the brown haired boy, startled and somewhat incredulous.

"Yes. I think that I'll be benefited from recording this, so I won't forget them," said the genin. Shouji snorted, while she rolled her eyes. "Beside, I know that the others will want to hear it too. This way you won't need to tell it twice."

"Riiighht. Anyway I just don't want you to risk your life needlessly. Like my father said, back off when you feel the battle is not worth it. You have another upcoming test between the second and the third exam and you won't be able to attend it if you're crippled. And you know which exam is the most important," she warned. The three boys nodded simultaneously.

"What if we face each other in the tournament?" Akira shot out his question.

"Well, it'll be up to you. You can either give up or battle each other. But don't reveal too much, unless you want to tell every one of your trump cards. I have an advice, by the way; don't prolong the match more than necessary, your opponent might use that time to plan and pull out an ace against you," the genin around her nodded.

Meanwhile Shugo was busy stuffing his stomach with ramen in Ichiraku Ramen. His father had told him that he always ate ramen there when he was a kid and the owner was nice to him, not to mention the ramen he served was really good. Although his father mostly hunted and cooked his own food, because no matter how cheap ramen was compared to other dishes, he still had to pay for his other needs.

"Ossan, your ramen is good," he complimented and put the 5th bowl to a pile on the table. "A jumbo sized miso ramen, please!" he cried out. The cook smiled happily, while both Kaguyas were sweat dropping and rolling their eyes.

"Jumbo miso ramen coming up!" Another two bowls later, Shugo patted his bloated stomach lazily. Kimimaro paid their lunch with a sigh and led them to the meeting point, when they heard shouting nearby.

They investigated the source and found the mad kid was struggling against an older ninja's hold, while his female comrade was staring at him with annoyance. His friends were shouting and trying to get him down. The ninja who wore a suit that reminded them of a black cat mocked the kids.

"Oh. It is them," Shugo stated and turned his back. "Come on, we have to meet the others," he decided to take a longer route, not wanting to get involved in the spectacle.

"Shouldn't we help them?" Yukito frowned.

"Nah, they're Suna-nins, right? They won't dare to make ruckus in a rival village, lest they want to be thrown out of the exam," he said out loud purposely. The Suna kunoichi noticed them and elbowed her partner. Grumbling, the ninja put Konohamaru down. The kid kicked his leg and ran behind the Sky group. Shugo shooed at them, but they didn't budge.

"Sabaku no Temari and Kankurou," Kimimaro stated, earning him suspicious glances from the two ninjas.

"Eh? You know them, tousan?" Shugo turned, forgetting about the kids.

"Just from the data. They're Sabaku no Gaara's sibling," he answered.

"Who?"

Shugo racked his mind. "Uh…" he flicked his finger when he remembered, "Hey, he's Suna's jinchuuriki, right? The one that holds Shukaku, The One Tail?" Kankurou's and Temari's eyes widened in alarm, while Konohamaru corps stared in confusion.

"Shukaku? That Tanuki bijuu? Is that guy up there him?" the next second a red head showed himself. He was staring at them blankly.

His father nodded. "Yes, that's Gaara. Come on, kids, we have to meet the others," he steered the two, leaving the Leaf academy students alone. Konohamaru and his friends made themselves scarce, not wanting to face the foreign ninjas alone.

"H-how did they know about Gaara?" Kankurou stared at their backs.

"Worse yet, it seems that it is a general knowledge among their group," Temari added with a frown. "We have to tell Baki-sensei about this."

"Who are they anyway? I don't recognize their headbands. And did you see one of the genins knew about Gaara's presence?" the puppet user was anxious. He turned to Gaara to see what his reaction was, only to find that he was already gone.

0-0 0-0 0-0

Sarutobi was rubbing his forehead tiredly. This chuunin exam would be different from previous ones. The presence of the mysterious Sky-nins, not to mention the palpable tension among the ninjas, especially the Hyuugas because Iwa and Kumo had accepted his invitations (for politeness sake). Even Mist sent 3 of their genin teams although they were still facing difficulties. The news of Sky being there in Konoha's chuunin exam was spread widely. And now the village was in high-alert.

He was berating himself for even inviting them. He thought they would just ignore it like usual. Rock hadn't extended an invitation to Leaf for their own chuunin exam though, and for that Sarutobi had to deal with the ire of an insulted council. He should've retired years ago. Without the need of power to protect Naruto since the boy had disappeared, he should've retired. As of now with the power as Hokage, he still had his ninjas to be in the look out for Uzumaki Naruto and to bring him back alive and unharmed.

Because of the threat Konoha was now facing, he was recalling every possible spare Leaf ninjas out there. He even recalled those that had retired back to their duty temporarily. He was too old for this.

The door to his office was slammed open. A man younger than him, but older than his students entered the room with narrowed eyes. "Two of my ANBUs squads will enter the exam," he stated. It was not a request.

"Fine," Sarutobi didn't want to argue with him. He knew that it was necessary.

The man was still not satisfied. "You should know that the others would be curious of Sky and yet you still invited Iwa and Kumo."

"Yes, I know that it was a gross miscalculation that I made, Danzou. And it seems that you still haven't disbanded Roots like I thought," he said in annoyance.

The man snorted. "It's not like you don't know about it already. But we're not talking about my ninjas here," he sneered.

Sarutobi sighed. Yup. He had a headache.

0-0 0-0 0-0

"…Neji," Tenten looked at her livid teammate worriedly.

"Wow, our teammate is really burning with spirit today," Lee exclaimed, as Neji destroyed a dummy with vehemence. Gai had a frown on his face.

"The news about Kumo also entering the exam reminds him of his hatred," he said quietly. "We can only hope he won't loose his head over it."

0-0 0-0 0-0

Hinata was biting her bottom lips nervously. Her mind was elsewhere. Shino and Kiba stopped their spar to watch her worriedly.HHH

"Why is she—"

"Kumo has entered our chuunin exam," Kurenai said even before he finished talking.

"…Oh," Akamaru whined above his head.

Leaf is in high-alert right now. Not only Kumo but Iwa has also entered the exam. We know that Iwa still holds grudge against us because of their loss in the last Great War. In fact all major villages are here now. Mist has also sent their teams."

"Why now of all times?" Kiba asked in confusion.

"There is… a new village called Sky that had made all villages, both major and minor, intrigued."

"But it's just a new village!" he said incredulously.

"…I have heard of this Sky from my father," Shino commented quietly.

The female jounin nodded. "They first started as a mercenary group, an elite one. Their change into an official village will affect all of the countries, no matter how slight. Sky is shrouded by mysteries and people want to know about them. Hopefully Iwa, Kumo or other villages won't try anything in the exam. Sandaime has warned us to be on guard. By now, I'm sure that all jounins have told their genin teams." Kurenai sighed. She wondered if she shouldn't retract her genins from the exam. It would be more dangerous than ever.

0-0 0-0 0-0

Orochimaru was wondering whether he should continue his plan to invade Konoha. There were too many unknown factors that he didn't anticipate. And all of this because of that blasted Sky. He had heard that its leader was Arashi's relative. Oh, how he hated the man who stole the Hokage title from him. Why couldn't his family follow him to the grave!

Still… Iwa and Kumo weren't in good relation with Konoha. Perhaps he could convince them to help him. He wasn't sure that they would accept though. And if they didn't accept it, they might as well tell Konoha about his intention and that would ruin his plan. Unlike Suna, he didn't have enough time to sway them. One small mistake and his plan could be all for naught. He had waited years for this. He couldn't take any chance!

…Or… could he?

TBC…

The chuunin exam in Rock won't be important here. And yes as you can see it'll be pretty complicated with all Iwa, Kumo, Mist, Sand, and Leaf in the chuunin exam. I wonder if people are surprised about this twist in story. I can only tell you that this exam will be different from canon (like I usually did in my other stories. I don't like to follow canon if I can). Shorter than previous chapter, but I'm sure all of you had waited for this chapter already.

Btw, I have written in Stranded that Stranded 12 was the longest chapter. I had a look at Soragakure's previous chapter (19) and noticed that it was actually the longest one (17 A4 pages, Times new roman 10, single space).

I also have announcement that I'm holding challenges that I have put in my profile. You should see it. So far they're all crossovers. Planning to add more ideas (both crossover and non crossover).


	22. 21 And The Exam Starts

Status: Edited By **KarinMS**

Chapter Twenty One – And the Exam Starts

**Rock's Village**

A red head blearily opened his green eyes, one hand reaching for the infernal object called alarm clock and threw it to the nearest wall, satisfied when he heard the scrunching noise. He sighed gladly, changing his position and went back to sleep lazily. Unfortunately it was not to be for not 5 seconds later a bucket full of freezing water was splashed quite rudely on the sleeping boy, causing him to drop from his bed unceremoniously and scream like a banshee.

"Son of a—" said boy cursed and scrambled to his feet, eyes wildly searching for the perpetrator. He could hear someone's chuckling and whirled around to glare at the source of the noise. "Ha ha, very funny indeed, Kouji," he glowered before he lunged at the laughing boy. "Get back here, you little—" his face met the door of the room which was suddenly opened from outside with a loud crack. The boy clutched his hurt nose, as if trying to protect it to no avail. His friend's laugh grew louder, causing his ire to rise again. The red head hoped that his nose wasn't broken, that would be a quite predicament.

The one who opened the door cleared his throat.

"…Uh," he let out dumbly, staring at one of his jounin escorts who was currently raising one of his eyebrow. He was distracted again by his friend's cackle.

"Bwa ha ha, you should've seen your face!" the laughing boy was silenced by a thick book which hit him squarely in the face. The laugh turned into curse. The culprit grinned, happy to even out the score.

"If you two are finished with that," the older man left the sentence hanging, gaining both boys' attention. "Good. Fix your beds and take a bath. Breakfast is ready downstairs," the gray haired man immediately left the room.

"Yo Agiru, where are the two boys?" Shigeru asked from the table reserved for Sky contingent, looking up from the newspaper in his hands. The rest of the genins were already there, chatting. Agiru could see Ginji was still sulking in the corner. The man still hadn't recovered from not being sent to Konoha.

"Kouji had just awakened Kazuhi. Hmph, for being one of the highest ranked genins he's such a heavy sleeper," he commented, taking a seat between the other two jounin escorts. His blue haired comrade chuckled.

"Any news from home?" Ginji perked up from his seat.

"Just that the other genin-teams have already arrived in Konoha. Oh, and they have the Suna jinchuuriki there," he added the last part in a whisper.

"Really? I found it strange that he's still ranked as genin."

"Pah. Rank doesn't mean anything. It's the power that you should watch out for!" Ginji exclaimed.

"I think that since Suna faces difficulty, because of their own Wind daimyou no less, they are letting out their secret weapon to get more clients," Agiru said.

"Secret weapon, indeed. It isn't like they're trying to keep it quiet," Shouji's rival bit out.

"Or our intelligence is just better," Shigeru reminded him.

"We got Yugo and especially Raido to thank for that," all of them agreed.

"Got any interesting news?" Agiru asked, reaching for the sake bottle in the center of the table, only to have his orange haired comrade snatch it away before his eyes. The gray haired man glared at Ginji. "The bottle…please," he inquired.

"Uh-uh," Ginji grinned, wiggling his finger. "You have some pretty interesting…reaction to this drink. While it's really funny when you turn into a shy or depressed or mad man when you're drunk like a skunk there's no telling you won't become a berserker, and right now we're in the middle of Iwagakure. Surely you aren't attempting to cause an international accident, are you? Sora-sama won't be pleased."

"I'm just trying to forget my headache! And it will be just a cup, not the whole bottle!" he protested. "Shigeru, tell him!" he demanded.

The blue haired man blinked. "What do you want me to say? 'Hey, Ginji, don't be so cheap! He'll learn that a hangover isn't a good way to try to forget a headache!'?" Ginji snorted.

"You hear him, lad. You're already tipsy for drinking a cup" the orange head cheered.

"Just because I'm younger than you -and there's only seven years difference by the way- doesn't give you the right to call me 'lad'! And don't be stingy just because you were dumped here while Shouji got to Konoha." The two ninja were now outright glaring at each other.

Kanada Shigeru sighed. While Agiru was quite a patient man, there were still buttons that could be pushed. And Ginji being agitated and then lashing it out onto others didn't help the matter. Truth was; all of them were tired of being shadowed by those Iwa-nins and several Kumo-nins. Did they think the Sky nins weren't noticing they were being followed around? Personally the blue haired man thought that it was such a waste of their time, but hey he wasn't their superior.

He wondered if their comrades in Konoha were better off than them.

0-0 0-0 0-0

Kazama Aiko was pissed. There was no other word that could describe how she was feeling right now. Right now she was trying to burn a hole through the laptop she was glaring at as if it had just committed the most hideous crime against her. The others steered clear off her space, afraid she would direct her ire toward them.

Right now the girl was trying to crush her urge to stab someone with a highly poisonous spear, preferably those people shadowing her group. Because of them she had to cancel the training she had brainstormed yesterday. All because they were trying to find out about their techniques. She should have known not to ask for a training field from Konoha. It wasn't like they couldn't just use one that wasn't being used.

Her group had just arrived to this training area assigned to them by Konoha administration and yet there were already six ninjas around, spying on them. Her fingers moved in a blur, so fast that none of the Konoha-nins noticed she was moving at all, and caught a bug from the air.

"U fu fu fu fu," she chuckled evilly and crushed the bug effortlessly. She was pretty sure now that those ninjas knew that they had been noticed, or at least the Aburame whose bug was now dead would.

"Sheesh, your sister is creepy," Yukito muttered.

Shugo raised an eyebrow, "And you only notice it now?"

0-0 0-0

Naruto scratched his head, wondering how he should act now that a problem had just presented itself. Gatou might have died and his companies (most of them anyway) were taken over, but his taint was still there, rearing its ugly head.

The paperwork in front of his face detailed sneak attacks, riots and propaganda attempts made by those benefited by the chaos Gatou created. Those officers the criminal lord had bribed to keep things smooth didn't like it when their source of money was cut off from them.

Seemed like honest work was too much for them to handle.

Honestly he'd rather like the government to take care of the problem itself, but the source of corruption was the government itself. He and his people were ninjas, not miracle workers for God's sake. He might have volunteered to help Wave -for free he might add- but honestly he never thought that he had to do this kind of thing too. Then again it was the Wave Daimyou itself who requested it. There were some rumors that someone was trying to rebel. The daimyou would do it himself if he wasn't so busy rebuilding the country to pick up on which ones of his subordinates were corrupted.

"**It wasn't like they had some skill to back them up and they did nothing to contribute to the country**," the fox demon inside him muttered something about rats and how they should die before they could taint anything. "**A week or two in the interrogation room will do them wonder**," the fox muttered.

Naruto snorted. "Yeah, and they'll be sniveling like cowards. Sheesh, why can't these people just lay off already?" he read the names of officers suspected of foul dealings with Gatou. There were two high stacks of paper dedicated to those names; something which irritated him for his table was usually clean with just a folder or two to read. "Get the head, and you'll get the rest," he grinned when he reached a file of someone who was believed to be highly involved with Gatou. The man had run away with his family to Water Country when enraged citizens tried to catch him.

It was unfortunate that they failed. Now the man was operating his men in Wave in secret, spouting propagandas about how Sky would take over Wave. So far it wasn't working on the grateful citizens, but Naruto didn't want to take chances. "Guess we'll have to silence him first. They'll be disorganized if their leader is dead. After that we can pluck his henchmen easily."

With that the blond took an empty file from his drawer and wrote on it the specification of the mission, before he asked his assistant to give it to the mission board division to determine which ninjas should be given the mission.

0-0 0-0

**Undisclosed Location**

In a soundproofed room, there were two people sitting, talking earnestly. "And I promise you if I become the new Lord, I'll do anything I can help and you'll be…wealthier," a middle aged man in civilian garb put a paper on the table.

The fat man across him raised his eyebrow at the amount of money promised to him. There was greedy glint in his eyes, as he read the number, before it turned into worry and displease. "And what about Sky?"

"Do not worry. I'll take care of them. I already have plans to get rid of them. Beside Sky's presence is disquieting for you…and others, isn't it?"

"…I'll think about it," the fat man eventually said. The first man looked disappointed, before he stood up.

"Very well. I'm expecting an answer in five days. Though I'm sure that there are many that will be interested with my offer," he reminded the other pompously. The fat man's eyes narrowed dangerously. The man in the civilian garb gulped inwardly, before he walked away from the room hastily.

When the door was closed, the fat man asked someone hidden in the shadows, "What do you think of his offer?"

"Interesting offer and Sky is indeed a nuisance," a feminine voice echoed.

"But?" the fat man added, knowing that there was a 'but' there.

"But he's civilian who knows nothing of how we ninjas work and I don't think his grand plan to get rid of Sky will be a success. Not to mention we're still facing difficulties with our own. There is a rebellion to curb," the voice said.

"Sooner or later all of them will recognize that I'm the rightful leader!" the fat man hissed, looking quite irritated.

"Of course, my Lord," the voice agreed, causing the man to grin.

0-0 0-0

**Another Location**

"Sky is really becoming a real bother. It's already bad enough they took several of our clients, but now it's worse. With it being an official hidden village they'll be able to operate in a wider scale! We should have gotten rid of them long time ago!" an angry man yelled loudly.

"Complaining isn't going to help us," another calmly remarked.

"How come we don't know about their base? With their numbers, we should be able to locate it and destroy them before they're able to rise like this!"

"Maybe they have more than one base located in different countries covered by genjutsu and seals," another suggested. "Then again now we know their current base. Wave Daimyou had given him a group of islands in the north of Wave, hadn't he?"

"That's a useless piece of information if we can't get our ninja to sneak in there," someone muttered.

"Their security is still heavy. Only one island can be entered by non Sky citizens and even then they always check them for foul play. I suggest waiting. Sooner or later they will be negligent. This month only we already lost five chuunin and three jounin to them." There was a debate for that proposal, but eventually they all agreed that it was the best move.

0-0 0-0 0-0

In the end the Sky genin weren't able to train without feeling bothered, so they decided to explore Konoha for either collecting data or just for fun. Incensed that her training plan that she devised for hours was ruined, Aiko spent her days glaring at everything and fuming, muttering curses under her breath. The others avoided her, which angered her more.

Ryoga spent his days in Konoha creating a detailed map of the ninja's city with the help of his special glasses and laptop and the occasional basic trainings like push ups, sit ups, hitting logs and chakra control trainings. The rest of genin were training lightly and did the occasional scouting (with the exception of the girls who also went shopping and Towa who got dragged by his twin), and when they were in their room they were relaxing, discussing things and destroying bugs planted in their room by the stubborn Leaf-nins.

Shugo spent an hour each day in Ichiraku Ramen talking with the chef and his daughter (and of course the real reason was to wolf down bowls of ramen broth) and many hours training, nothing special of course. Unbeknownst to him, or perhaps it was just because he didn't care, several ninjas were told to question Ichiraku Teuchi about what they were talking about. The chef was unhappy they were questioning him about his newest customer and was glad that the teen didn't tell him anything important, just things that could be easily found if people investigated Sky and Wave. Teuchi wondered if the teen knew that he would be questioned.

It was the day before the exam and like usual Shugo was sitting in a stool at Ichiraku Ramen, waiting for his beef ramen to come. Today he wasn't wearing his hitae-ate, leaving it on the table in his hotel room. There was a chuunin posted in the ramen stall like usual, and it was always a different one every other day. Today it was a brown haired chuunin with a horizontal scar on his face. Shugo knew him as Umino Iruka from his father's stories.

His father told him about the academy teacher who was the only one not to act hostile toward him. Although his father wasn't particularly close to the young chuunin, Iruka had made a lasting impression to his father. The man never punished him for no reason unlike the other teachers, even if he was still acting hesitant around him. The chuunin even once treated his father for ramen (even if he later regretted it, for Naruto had emptied his wallet), which put him in his good book.

Well, being put in his father's good book or not, the Leaf chuunin was still assigned to keep an eye on him. And Shugo didn't appreciate it.

There were also two Leaf genin there: a fat one who ate ramen with gusto, who he was pretty sure was an Akimichi, and also another with a pineapple hair style who looked somewhat bored. Shugo deduced that they weren't there for him, but to eat.

"Ossan, shrimp ramen!" Shugo requested loudly. The bored looking one blinked in astonishment, as he compared the amount of empty bowls in front of him and his fatty friend, which Shugo won by three bowls so far by the way.

"Coming up!" Teuchi grinned.

Apparently the Akimichi boy noticed it and looked quite put off that someone managed to out eat him, especially since the brown haired boy ate first.

"Give me jumbo miso ramen!" the boy narrowed his eyes in challenge. Shugo grinned at the unspoken challenge and accepted it.

"Add jumbo beef ramen for me!" Shugo added, raising an eyebrow at the boy who immediately glowered.

By the time the eating contest was over, the chuunin and the pineapple haired boy looked decidedly green and left their unfinished ramen alone, as they watched the two eating ramen like pigs. And to the astonishment of others, Shugo had won the contest, rubbing his stomach with a satisfied pat, while Chouji appeared to be nauseous and holding down his stomach.

"Man, that was good," the others stared at him disbelievingly. The Akimichi boy was heaving in the background.

"You okay, Chouji?" the fat boy's friend asked in concern, rubbing his back to help the nauseous boy. "Do you want to go to the doctor?" Chouji shook his head.

"Nah, I'm going to be okay in a second, Shikamaru" the boy accepted the glass of water that was handed to him by his friend.

"Osssan, you should move to Wave. Your business will go great there, trust me! Your ramen is really as great as my father said."

"Oh? Your father ever visited my stall?" Teuchi looked surprised, and so was Iruka although he didn't look like it. The pineapple haired genin perked up when he heard the Wave word. That country and its new mysterious hidden village were still being talked about.

"Sure do. It has been years, but he never forgot the taste of your ramen," the blonde boy grinned.

Teuchi chuckled. "Kid, you sure like to flatter me, eh?"

Shugo shrugged. "But it's true. So, will you move to Wave?"

"Nah, I don't think so, kid. But thanks for the offer anyway," Teuchi refused the offer. He didn't have the money to move to Wave and he was sure that Konoha would try to use him to spy on Sky. He liked the energetic kid, reminded him of Naruto, the boy that had went missing years ago. Even now he still missed the unfortunate boy. The difference between Naruto and this boy was that Shugo was able to buy ramen to his heart content, hell the two's appearances even looked quite similar, something that he was sure that Iruka felt too. Teuchi had once had a heart to heart talk with Iruka regarding his feelings about Naruto and the next day the chuunin ate ramen with Naruto in his stall.

"Man that sucks! See you later, ossan!" he slapped a wad of money to the counter. Teuchi blinked when he saw the money. "Keep the change!" Teuchi's eyes bulged as he counted the money. It was triple the price of the ramen he had eaten. He raised his eyebrow when he saw a slip of paper among the money and quickly slipped it into his pocket when Iruka and the two genin were looking at his newest customer.

"He's from Wave?" Shikamaru asked to no one in particular, but Teuchi answered anyway.

"Yep. He's a contestant for the chuunin exam," he informed.

Chouji looked up, still looking pale, "Eh, he's a ninja too? I didn't see his hitae-ate."

The chef shrugged. "Well, he isn't wearing it today."

"Who's he anyway?"

"His name is Kazama Shugo. And from what I know he's the son of the current leader of Sky village."

"Wow, and this leader of Sky has visited you before?" Chouji was astonished to say the least.

Teuchi rubbed his head. "That's the funny thing. See, rumor said that he looked almost exactly like yondaime—of course that's not weird if the rumor that he's a relative of yondaime is true—anyway I'm pretty sure I should've remembered ever having him as a customer. I mean guys like them should have given us lasting impressions, you know," the man looked confused.

"Yondaime as in our yondaime?" Shikamaru questioned. He could see from the corner of his eyes that his former teacher was listening to their conversation. Teuchi nodded with a grin.

"He's a ninja, right? Maybe he was using disguise. I'm sure he didn't want to generate attention here by being a yondaime look-alike," Chouji pointed out.

"Yes, I think you're right," the chef agreed.

"Does he often eat here?" Shikamaru asked, quite interested with the boy. For being the son of a hidden village leader, he was sure cheerful, unlike those three from Suna; especially the creepy red head.

"Yep. Every day," and Teuchi was proud of it.

"Has he ever talked about his home?"

"Sky?" he received nods from the genin. "Actually…he was quite tightlipped about it. Talkative or not, I think he understood the danger of talking about his home, especially when other villages paid close attention to Sky, including Konoha," he glanced meaningfully at Iruka who seemed embarrassed at being caught. Shikamaru noticed their reactions, but said nothing.

"Well, Teuchi-san, I have to go now. There are papers to grade," Iruka stood up, leaving his half filled ramen.

"Umm…Iruka-sensei," Chouji called weakly.

"Yes, Chouji?" the young teacher turned around, wondering what he wanted with him.

"Can I, uh, can I borrow some money? I mean I brought money myself, but I think neither Shikamaru nor I can pay for all of these bowls," he pointed nervously at the stack of empty bowls in front of him. He was too carried away by the unofficial eating contest and forgot about the money in his pocket. "I'll pay it back, I promise!" he slapped his palms and begged his former teacher.

Iruka, Shikamaru and Teuchi sweatdropped.

After mourning the loss of his hard earned money, Iruka left the stall, followed by Shikamaru and Chouji.

After cleaning the counter and putting the bowls in the sink to be washed, Teuchi remembered about the slip of paper in his pocket and read it.

_The offer still stands. Call me if you change your mind._

The chef blinked, wondering when the boy was able to write the note. He shook his head after muttering about ninjas and their abilities before he continued to read the note, wondering why the boy had felt the need to put it into this note instead of speaking to him outright.

_The one who told me about your ramen? I'm sure you know of him quite closely. Remember about the orphan boy who always ate in your place years ago? That's right. He was Naruto. And he didn't forget about you. He told me to tell you thanks for your help._

_You'll have your loyal customer back if you move to Wave. If you're worried about Leaf, there's no need for that. Our ninjas will be happy to keep them out. And Dad and I will be willing to accommodate you in either Wave or Sky. Those who help our family will never be forgotten._

_Kazama Shugo_

Teuchi's eyes bulged out in shock.

**Nearby**

"Take that you bastards!" Aiko yelled, venting her rage by hitting the moles quite vigorously, imagining them as those spies and not moles. "Watchaaa!" she ended it with a sharp kick, forgetting the plastic hammer in her hand, causing the last mole to be tossed up and stuck to the ceiling with a crack.

She closed her eyes, feeling quite satisfied. The crowd around her was giving her wide berth, including said spies.

The game center keeper was walking toward her with an innocent smile, although people could see the bulging vein on his forehead. He wasn't even deterred by the amount of violence she could put him into. "I'm sorry, but you'll have to pay for damaging that," he pointed at the broken module.

Aiko blinked a couple of times, seeming to just remember where she was. She looked at the thing she had just broken, the plastic hammer, the broken ceiling and then the annoyed keeper. "Whoopsie! A ha ha ha ha," she scratched the back of her head sheepishly. She was lucky that none of her comrades was with her for they would never let her forget about the event.

**Training Field 11**

Kimimaro was sleeping under a tree as he supervised the genin's training, despite the fact that there were ninjas shadowing them. Because of his relaxed posture, the spying ninjas were actually thinking that he was meditating instead of sleeping. If only they knew…

Across him the head of the Kaguya (still small but growing) clan Yakimaru Shouji was sharpening his katana with great care, giving the training genin pointers occasionally, seemingly undisturbed by the hiding ninjas although he knew they were there.

"'Kay kids, that's enough. Now you have to rest your bodies for tomorrow," the genin quickly stopped whatever they were doing.

"Hai, Shouji-sama!" they chorused, racing toward their hotel rooms.

Shouji stood up and sheathed his katana. "Come on, Kimimaro," he called the white haired man, who immediately woke up, looking quite alert. Shouji then turned to the hiding ninjas and smirked, "By the way you people suck at spying, Next time choose someone else!" with that the two disappeared from their sight in a flash.

The hiding ninjas were cursing under their breaths.

0-0 0-0 0-0

**Next Day**

The Sky genin were the first to arrive at the empty room. They were early by an hour, looking quite refreshed.

Umogata Momoka sighed. "Don't tell me the first exam is a written one," she muttered.

"It appears to be, unfortunately," Nakajima Suou replied. The black haired boy was eyeing the classroom with distaste.

"Ninja is all about instinct, not booksmart," Soryuu Akira reminded them.

Ryoga adjusted his glassed. "Not really," he disagreed. "Relying just on instinct makes us no different than simple savages or animals."

Kazuhara Noa was sweating nervously, while her twin was calm. Between the two the male twin was the smarter and nerdy one.

"He's right. We're not civilians or scholars. We have no need for a written exam," Yuzu Soi voiced out calmly from her chosen seat.

"What do you think the exam will be then?" Momoka, who looked like Tenten with red hair, asked the others.

"Gathering information, most likely," Ryoga answered.

"Perhaps genjutsu canceling, you know the questions in the sheet are different from what it's supposed to be," Yukito added.

Shugo frowned. "That sounds too easy," he disagreed.

"This comes from a village whose genin exam is a simple written exam and displaying three basic techniques such as kawarimi, bunshin and henge, you know," the Kaguya boy defended himself.

"Oh…right. Still I don't think they'll make an easy chuunin exam. I mean the others will wonder if the standard of Konoha has fallen so low."

"None of us has problem with gathering information secretly right?" Ryoga asked.

"Who do you think we are? All of us have to know at least two techniques for it to pass as genin. And we were chosen to represent Sky, if you don't remember," Momoka grumbled, looking insulted. "And if nothing else comes up, you can tell us the answer via that."

"Riiiiiiighhhhtttt. Well you better set it now. No sense of delaying," the brown haired boy set his ear clip to the right setting. The others followed his lead.

"Aren't we getting ahead of ourselves? I mean this room may be just a conference room to explain the exam," Towa voiced out his opinion.

"Huh? You're right," his twin visibly calmed down.

"Anyone thinking they 'bugged' the room?" Soi asked in concern. Ryoga grinned. "Something you want to share with us, those poorly uninformed, Ryoga?"

"If they did, they'll hear nothing but a high pitched sound," he held up a small black gadget in his hand. "It also jammed other electronic devices such as cameras, and the best thing? It doesn't affect ours," he grinned victoriously.

"Nice," Shugo complimented. "You create it?"

Ryoga frowned and shook his head. "Unfortunately I can't take the credit for it. This is the latest gadget from Yugo-sama's lab," there was a dreamy look as he spoke of his idol, which made the others roll their eyes.

They spoke to each other animatedly, even after the others arrived, careful not to omit something important. Last night they had already been briefed on the public files of other villages' genin, so they knew which ones to watch out for. They were also told that the current rookie genin teams from Leaf also entered the exam, so their records weren't really good, since they were still green. They wondered if the Leaf jounin teachers had trained their teams extensively for them to nominate their genin.

The Sky contingent didn't seem to have a problem being the center of attention. News about the event in Wave was causing the others to pay extra attention to the genin from the newly risen hidden village. The attention was shifted when the Leaf rookie teams were chatting and a gray haired Leaf genin who wore glasses reprimanded them, before telling them about the use of nin-card.

Obviously, they inquired about Sky and Yakushi Kabuto, the name of the informant, could only give them public record that could be easily obtained if you knew who and how to ask.

"I don't think you should worry about Sound. They're just a new village, fairly unknown and seem weak. Now Sky on the other hand—"

"Unknown and weak, aren't we? Shall I show you our strength?" a genin with Sound hitae-ate cut in, giving the Sky group a glare they largely ignored. The genin dashed toward Kabuto to attack him. Halfway through, Noa stuck her foot out, causing the Sound genin to trip, crashing the floor painfully and rolling on it like a rag doll. Many genin were snickering.

"Noa!" her twin admonished, elbowing her.

"What?" she asked innocently.

"You asshole!" the Sound genin yelled after he stood up, ready to maul her. His teammates on the other hand were sighing and rolling their eyes.

"Alright, that's enough!" the examiners arrived and the leader, a man whose head was covered by a bandana, was shouting to get the genin's attention. "No fighting or I'll throw you out!" he warned with narrowed eyes. The genin who 'fell' didn't seem happy but he complied with the order, after he finished snarling at Noa. The blue haired girl gave a high-five to her twin, who pretty much rolled his eyes at the immature gesture.

After all genin took their rightful seats and all papers were delivered to each of them, the exam was started. The Sky group, already deducing that the exam was gathering data, knew that 'cheating isn't allowed' was bullshit and was actually encouraged. And it was their cheating method being graded. Of course for booksmarts like Ryoga, Towa and Sakura, cheating wasn't needed. The difference between the Sky genin and Sakura was that they were able to relay the answers to others, while Sakura could only help herself, hoping that her teammates got the answers right.

Using a simple genjutsu and hologram to back it up, the examiners didn't notice that Ryoga's mouth was moving, as he relayed the answers. Ryoga also did it in such angle that examiners would think he was just mumbling incoherently, trying to answer the question, just in case. In fact the two chuunin plants in the exam did the same as him (not the genjutsu, but mumbling the answer), so he wasn't worried. The plants were careful not to answer the questions too fast for the sake of the genin.

Halfway through the exam, all Sky genin had finished answering the test and covered their answer sheets, so others couldn't steal the answers from them. Several genin teams were already thrown out by then.

Ibiki (and several other chuunin) were carefully monitoring the Sky genin. The Head of Interrogation easily noticed the genjutsu, but he wondered about the use of it. It didn't seem to have anything to do with gathering data, and he was sure that the boy was still in his seat, so the genjutsu wasn't used for sneaking. Ten minutes before the tenth question would be revealed, his attention shifted when he heard a Cloud genin being pelted by another genin. That genin, according to the file, was his teammate.

Ibiki raised his eyebrow, as he watched the victim glare at his comrade, before he took the thing being used to pelt him. It was a small ball of compressed paper. The black haired genin carefully opened the paper ball, not wanting to damage it, right in front of the examiners' eyes. He didn't seem to care that right now he was stared at by practically everybody, as he replicated the answer from the crushed paper to his own answer sheet.

Five minutes with the others glaring down at him, the Cloud genin eventually sighed. "What? You got a problem with me or something?" he challenged. His teammate who pelted him slapped his palm to his face and shook his head exasperatedly.

"You're cheating," an examiner pointed out.

"Yeah, so? Am I supposed to give you ten points for your deduction?" he raised an inquiring eyebrow.

"Cheating isn't allowed," the same examiner replied.

"Really?" he looked surprised. "Because I swear that that guy," he pointed at Ibiki, "Only said that getting caught five times will get the genin and his team thrown out. Each time a genin was caught his point will be reduced by two. And I still have eight points, you know," he grinned triumphantly.

Ibiki snorted. "Forget it Ken, you lose to the boy already." Said examiner grumbled under his breath.

"What? You mean we can do that?" someone cried out.

"Of course," Ibiki grinned. "It's your fault that you didn't think about this method. You should've paid attention to what I said," another protested, causing Ibiki to frown, "And stop being such a whiny bitch. Are you a ninja or not? Your team is thrown out by the way!"

"You can't do that!"

"Out!" the protesting genin gulped and exited the room in haste, afraid that the older ninja would cut him dead, followed by his grumbling teammates.

Since it was almost finished, the other genin weren't able to do the same thing to pass the exam. Not only they didn't have spare paper, they didn't have time to write down the answers and deliver them to their teammates for them to read and copy.

"Put down your pens!" Ibiki bellowed when it was time to give out the tenth question. "Now before I give you the tenth question, I'll ask if anyone wants to give up."

Someone raised his hand, afraid that he would be thrown out like the former team. "Is there a reason why we should give up?" he asked hesitantly.

"Glad that you ask!" the lead examiner grinned evilly. "You see if you decide to take it up and then get the answer wrong, you're no longer allowed to enter another chuunin exam, which mean you stay genin forever. But—" he cut off the cries of outrage. "If you give up now, you can take another exam. You're just unlucky that I'm chosen as the examiner this time."

Several genin were looking at each other in confusion. To do something like that Leaf would need the cooperation of the other villages' leaders. And none of their leaders told them or even gave them a hint for something like this.

Several raised their hands, most of them from Leaf.

None of the Mist-nins, Cloud-nins, or Rock-nins raised their hands. After being told specifically to find out more about Sky or die trying… Between being genin forever and die as punishment for not completing their mission, it was easy to work out which one they would pick.

The Sky genin only rolled their eyes. Even if they were chosen as chuunin here, didn't mean they would raise in the hierarchy of their own ninja village and short of Ryoga suddenly turning stupid in the space of minutes, they believed that they would be able to answer the question. And being told that they would stay as genin forever was such a bullshit. After this they would take another exam, a real one, in their own home village.

"Anyone else giving up?" Ibiki checked out the number of the genin teams. There were still many teams left. Most of the foreign teams not thrown out didn't give up. In fact most of the teams giving up were Leaf-nins. He even saw the Hyuuga heiress almost raise her hand, before she quickly clasped her right hand with her left, looking quite worried. "I ask again, anyone else giving up?" No one raised their hands. Ibiki sighed inwardly, knowing that Anko would be irritated by this. "Very well…you pass!"

And with that sentence, the first exam was over.

**TBC…**

Yes, Shugo took a risk telling Teuchi about Naruto, but it wasn't like he said that his father was Naruto, only that Naruto was in Sky. Konoha won't ask specifically for Naruto because he's not even an academy student. Teuchi was trusted by Naruto and even if that trust is betrayed, it isn't like Konoha can do anything other than grinding their teeth :D


	23. 22 The Exam Commences

Author's Note: So yeah, MK/KM dropped a bombshell in chapter 367, even though I haven't yet to read it.

Warning: SPOILER! Skip the next part if you don't want to know…though I find that most Naruto writers and readers in have no problem with spoiler, considering not many put warning for spoiler or anything. Very different when you read the summary for Harry Potter. There, several readers will be pissed off if you don't put the spoiler warning.

Yondaime's true name is Namikaze (roughly translated into WindWave) Minato, and his wife is Uzumaki Kushina, and they're Naruto's parents. Hm…get the name wrong, but at least Naruto is truly his son.

Anyway I'm NOT going to change Kazama Arashi into Namikaze Minato (hey, those names are both related to wind). I like Arashi better than Minato (even though I have no problem with Namikaze, and it even coincides with Wave/Nami country), and I think Minato is kinda plain compared to Arashi (I apologize if anyone who read this has Minato as his name) and much more common. I found out from dictionary that Minato means harbour/port/dock. But does that mean something? Did KM use it because of the element Nami used in the name or just because he felt like it? Hm…I wonder.

Sorry that it took so long to write this update, but my assignments made my life hell. Plus it's now entering final exam.

Status: Edited by **KarinMS**

**Chapter Twenty Two – The Exam Commences**

After the first exam was over, the twenty six teams who had passed were being led to a location outside training field 44, known to many in Konoha as Hellish Ground, Terror-Filled Nightmare, The-Place-Not-To-Be-Spoken-Of, Enter-And-Die Place or just simply plain Forest of Death.

They were not allowed to go anywhere else to get supplies, so whatever they currently brought would be whatever they could take with them. So whoever unlucky enough not to prepare for something like this realized they were in a deep shit.

Right now the Sky teams were separated from each other as they mingled with the crowds to put chakra tracers on their opponents as secretly as they could and unless people paid attention or had high chakra sense they wouldn't suspect anything. All genin watched as Anko explained the rules of the exam for the participants and told them to sign their names on the designated waiver.

After they received one of the Heaven or Earth scroll, all genin teams were led by Leaf chuunin to different gates which would be their starting points. When the chuunin looked at their watches and noticed that it was time, they opened the lock and told the genin they escorted that the exam had just started. Some genin teams immediately dashed through the gates, while others chose to simply walk into the forest.

After making sure that no one else was nearby, Ryoga switched on the special ability of his glasses. Those who were tagged by tracers were represented as red dots, while their Sky comrades were blue dots. The range of the radar was 25 kilometers, enough to cover the area of Forest of Death. Unfortunately since they had no map of this forest they knew nothing of its terrain, only the locations of the tracers.

"We got all of them, except one which I'm sure was Gaara. His sand protects him from foreign substance after all," Ryoga counted the dots. He frowned when several red dots vanished. "Wait! Several of them were damaged. Either they malfunctioned or someone noticed and broke them. Most are still working though."

"Do you know which teams?" Shugo asked, wondering inwardly if it was a good idea to rely on a piece of electronic. He might not be as bad as his father with electronic, but he knew none of the advanced stuff and wasn't bothered to learn either.

Ryoga shook his head. "No, but I have a way to find out," he took out his black laptop and a small black chip from his backpack. After he switched on his laptop, he inserted the chip into his small computer. "Come on, we can do this while we search for our operation base," his two teammates agreed and searched for the highest tree they could find, omitting caves for their obvious use of hiding place. They found a huge ancient red oak tree that dwarfed other trees and immediately climbed it until they were sure they wouldn't easily be seen from below. To make sure none of their opponents would notice them, they cloaked their chakra as best as they could.

In the laptop screen, there was the same map with the one on the brown haired genin's glasses, only in bigger scale. Tapping one of the red dots nearest to their location twice with an electronic pen, there appeared several commands that could be done. Ryoga picked the 'camera and microphone' option. Immediately the small group could see what the tiny built-in camera in the tracer could see.

They saw a genin with Leaf hitae-ate and he was jumping through the trees. There were only two genins there, the one they saw in the camera, and the one planted by the tracer. They noticed that their last teammate wasn't with them after they switched on the camera from the one they first saw and looked through it. Ryoga referred to his database of the chuunin exam participants and quickly found out that their names were Akado Yoroi and Tsurugi Mitsumi. Their teammate who wasn't with them was Yakushi Kabuto.

The brown haired genin didn't blink when he received a notice that he got a message from Towa who wasn't on his team on the screen. He clicked open the message and found out that Towa sent him the data of the teams near his own group. It seemed the blue haired genin had done the same as Ryoga, not that it was any surprise they had decided to do so. Not even a minute later, another notice was received that he got a report from Momoka's team.

Forty five minutes later they had finished their research and found out who still had their tracers on them and who didn't. Four of twelve Cloud genin didn't have tracers on them or their tracers were broken. Three of the five were from the same genin team, so they were pretty sure that team somehow found out about the tracers. They found the last genin whose tracer was broken came from a clan whose body occasionally let off electrical current, so that might be the reason the tracer was broken.

One of the two Grass genin teams could be traced. They others were completely invisible on the screen. From the Sand, only Gaara had no tracer and because of that they could still trace him via his siblings. The Sound team still had their tracers and so were the Rock teams. For Mist, one of their genin dropped of his tracer unknowingly on the forest floor. It seemed whoever planted the tracer on him didn't do their job properly. Rain genin teams still had their tracers. And for Leaf…let's see the display on the screen shall we?

"Hm? What did you say, Akamaru?" the puppy gave one last look to the tiny tracer and then barked to its master. "Eh? Suspicious thing?" he searched for the tracer and immediately picked out the device after Akamaru showed him. "What's this?" he growled angrily, his eyes narrowed.

"My bugs told me the same thing," Shino spoke quietly. A swarm of his bugs held the tiny gadget out in the open.

"If the two of us got it…Hinata, what about you?" Kiba asked. Akamaru whined. "She has it too?" he frowned.

The three Sky genin sighed. Of course, animals had better chakra sense than humans. Looking at the three camera displays on the screen, Ryoga typed a command. A moment later the camera displays showed nothing but blankness.

"What did you do?" Yukito asked his friend accusingly.

"I commanded them to self-destruct. It was nothing big, just a small explosion. Maybe not even as strong as the weakest explosion tag. Still I hope they would injure that team enough to hold them back." The Sky team didn't know it, but they did blew up a chunk of Shino's bugs, injured Kiba's hand pretty bad and gave Hinata a third degree burn on her back and ruined her jacket and clothes. None of the Leaf genin thought the devices were tracers. They thought it was another version of exploding tags planted on them before the exam was started, for that was the only explanation as to how they got the small bombs planted on their clothes, when they hadn't met with any opponent yet in the forest. The injuries did hold Leaf's Team Eight back. They had to treat their injuries first before they could attempt to get the opposite of their scroll. And for that they had to search for a safe hiding place.

Kabuto was nowhere to be found. He was one of the few genin who got the tracers on them broken.

Team Ten still had their tracers with them and they never noticed anything amiss.

Team Seven and Gai's team also never noticed the tracers on them. If only Hyuuga Neji and Hanabi (and Hinata) used their byakugan on their teammates and themselves instead of only their surrounding, they would notice the tracers planted on them. Unfortunately for them, they weren't bothered to do so and so never notice the tracers.

The other Leaf teams weren't important enough to talk about and needless to say they still had tracers on them, except one who broke the device accidentally when he tripped on a tree and crushed it.

Because of request from Ryoga, Shugo summoned five small sharn'gotti which they used to plant tiny webcams near the tower and various other places. Since the devices weren't chakra tracers, just 'normal' cameras, even high chakra senses couldn't find them. They hoped with them in place, they would be able to find even those whose tracers were broken or dropped off. Before the blond released the demon birds, he put them under henge so they looked like local wild birds.

"So…which one should we assault?" Shugo questioned the other two. Since they had Earth scroll they would need the Heaven one and they already knew most of which teams had which, thanks to their tracers. Of course, they wouldn't refuse an Earth scroll if they could find it, because Momoka's team had a Heaven scroll and the fewer teams who passed the exam the better.

"Well, the nearest team was that Leaf team whose teammate was off of our radar. Fortunately they have their team scroll with them. Their teammate must be scouting or something."

"Hey look, it seems that Towa is going to move against Rain team. Come on, we shouldn't let them be the first one to reach the tower!" Shugo pointed at the blue dots who moved fast to reach the nearest red dots.

"I was not aware there's a competition for that," Ryoga watched his blonde teammate jumped to a lower branch. "And where is he going? I'm the one who has the map!" the brown haired genin growled, as he followed his wayward teammate. Yukito could only shrug.

"Oey, Shugo, don't move on your own and leave us in the dust like this!" the white haired Kaguya growled into his earclip. "Who's our target anyway?"

"That Leaf team, who else?" was the answer coming from the blond via the earclip.

"We don't even know their scroll yet!" Ryoga stated exasperatedly.

"Man, if we wait until we know which scroll they carry, we'll be old men by the time it happens!" needless to say it was easy to say that Shugo wasn't the most patient person around.

"Yeah, yeah," the spectacled boy grumbled, as he caught up with his teammate. He wondered how the other teams fared.

0-0 0-0 0-0

"Man, if only we knew where that Leaf team is right now, we could take them out. They're ripe for picking. Too bad that Ryoga had to use the self-destruct command," Akira bemoaned. Not even a day here, he already wanted to go back to a comfortable bed instead of roaming through this forest.

"Are you stupid or what? It was the self destruction that hurt them," his friend, Suou, pointed at the blood and burnt bugs on the ground. They had come to the last place the Leaf genin were seen, but the group was nowhere to be seen anymore. "Rather than complaining, you should check the camera displays, maybe we can find them!"

"_Or_,"the only female in the group cut off, "We can track them ourselves. Honestly guys, are you ninja or not? Past ninjas didn't have the benefit of this kind of technology and they were okay with that."

"Which is why we as the next generation ninja should utilize every advantage we have, including technology. 'Sides it does cut down on the number of casualties," Suou pointed out.

"…That's like saying that you don't believe in your own power thus we have to rely on technology," the red haired kunoichi replied. The two went on a staring contest.

"GAH! Why don't _you two_ shut up and just do both of them? We're wasting time here!" Akira grumbled. The red head looked at the laptop sitting in his arms with irritation. A laptop, even if the size was already reduced like this, was still a pain in the ass to use while running, especially in ninja speed.

He hoped the technology department back home was able to better this piece of electronic. He heard that a relic hunter group had just recently unearthed another buried ancient place. The rumor was that the people who built the place were the latest ancients, so had better technology than their predecessors. He was sure that Weapon & Technology Department would be able to reverse engineer some intact relics, providing there was any. He heard stories of old that the ancients' kind of computer was very thin and transparent and could even follow its owner around. It was also said that they could work just by voice command alone. No need for typing. Man, if it was true, that would be a convenient thing to have.

The genin group was still searching for Leaf's reconnaissance genin team when Suou suddenly stopped. The black haired genin whose ponytail was swinging in the air gestured his teammates to stop.

"There are three people coming," he warned them. Among them, Suou was the best one in chakra sensing.

Akira turned to the screen, but couldn't find any red dot nearby. "Part of the ones who got their tracers broken, huh? Three, you say? Then it's either a Cloud or Grass team. So, we're fighting them?"

"Why not?" Momoka voiced out her opinion, ready to cast genjutsu or ninjutsu at any moment. Beside her, Suou fingered his weapon pouch. Akira put the laptop he was holding in his backpack for he wouldn't be able to fight at his best while holding it.

"Ah yes, I can sense them now. Should we act as if we don't know they're going to ambush us, or not?" Akira asked the tactician of the group.

"Act like we're arguing," was the reply from the black haired genin.

The team was pretty stealthy for a genin team, careful not to make any noise. Unfortunately for them, like in Mist, the ninjas in Sky were also taught about silent killings. And because of the fox seal, their senses were heightened above normal humans.

"I'd say that we should go to the tower and wait for the teams that are bound to come there," Suou started up the conversation, he was careful to put the right emotion on his face.

"I think that's too risky. I'm sure that several others are already thinking about the same idea," Akira shook his head, appearing like he disagreed with his teammate. "What about you, Moka?"

"If we're too close to the tower, we can loose them if they escape. Not to mention that the weaker teams will be weed out in the forest far from the tower."

"Why my dear, you sound like you don't believe in your own strength," the red haired girl glared at the smirking black haired genin. Akira was wondering if they were too into the act and had forgotten about the soon-to-to-be-attackers. He was secretly hoping they would attack soon. To his surprise, instead of ambushing them like any sane ninja would do, their shadows exited their hidden spots.

The Sky team was at loss right now. They didn't know what to do. Continuing as if they still hadn't seen them was out because they already saw their followers who turned out to be the Cloud team. Should they act scared and ran away?

The decision was out of their hands, however, when the Cloud team, without hesitance, started to attack them. They didn't even give any winding speech like the arrogant would do. Maybe there was a reason why none of the tracers planted on them were working.

Suou sighed and turned to face the Cloud-nins. "Guess the plan is tossed out of the window now," the black haired genin muttered. He grabbed the handle of his katana on his hip. Beside him, his friends followed his lead.

Momoka fingered her red hair; all the while discreetly opening the channel of her transmitter earclip. "Team 3 engages one of the lost teams. It's the Cloud one," she muttered softly, intending to tell the others the news. Closing the channel, she was determined to voice up her complaint and a suggestion to the Weapon & Technology R&D division to create another method to use the earclip aside from tapping the earclip itself. It was hardly a discreet gesture. People would soon notice the Sky-nins often playing with their hairs and would wonder about it.

"Understood. Be careful!" Towa of Team 2 replied. Thankfully they had set the earclip to accept any transmit from the others, so none of them needed to tap their earclip twice to receive the reply.

"Team 1 is going to engage a Leaf team in a minute," came the voice of Ryoga.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the genin team from the infamous Sky," a black haired Cloud genin clucked. He was the one who didn't give a damn to be seen cheating in the First Exam. "It must be our lucky days, isn't it, guys?" he asked his brown haired teammates. "For such a small and newly founded village you guys are too arrogant and grating on our nerves if you think you can beat any major village, much less Cloud," he smirked. "I'll have fun playing with you."

"Boast after you manage to beat us, instead of saying things like a loser who pretends to be brave and tries to intimidate others with words. And 'arrogant'? Puh-lease, you should try a mirror sometime!" Momoka scoffed.

"My, such a feisty girl! I like you already!" the Cloud genin grinned.

"Can we just beat the crap out of each other instead of having a verbal match?" Suou was ticked off.

"Very well, wouldn't want to disappoint you after all," and the Cloud team attacked them.

0-0 0-0 0-0

Shugo leapt swiftly behind the two Leaf genin and caught one of them in the neck with his kick. The genin was thrown to a nearby tree with a crunch. The young blond ducked to avoid a punch from the Leaf-nin's teammate. Planting his hands on the ground, Shugo swung his body and kicked his opponent's knees hard enough to drive him to the ground.

Yukito immediately went to assault the first genin with bone bullets from his fingers. The Leaf nin's body acted like it didn't have bones and avoided the bullets.

"Whoa, are you rubber man or something?" the Kaguya boy blinked when this time he saw the genin curled around the tree like a snake.

"I'm not rubber! I'm elastic!" the Leaf genin was indignant.

"I don't see the difference," Yukito's answer infuriated him further. When he prepared himself to attack the white haired boy, he heard the pained cry of his teammate.

… … …

Shugo was fighting hand to hand against his opponent who it seemed was determined to catch him. The genin did manage to catch his wrist, but Shugo managed to shake him off and delivered a strong thrust to his throat which caused the genin to choke and cough painfully.

Shugo flicked a glance to his wrist and then at the coughing genin. Even if it was a short time, he felt like his chakra was drained. "You can leech chakra by touch, huh? Nice to know," and with that he sent a wind blade to his stomach. The wind cut him deeply in the belly and blasted him off to the ground. "Sky One! Leaf Zero!" he cheered.

"Shugo, watch out!" the teammate of the one he had just blasted off was in the air with the intent to attack him with kunai on his hand. Yukito's bone bullet managed to pierce his shoulder, but the genin wasn't deterred. The blonde genin was ready to defend himself when a steel net captured his opponent and brought him down to the ground, trapping the squirming elastic genin there.

Ryoga came out of his hiding place and pushed the red button on the black tube he was holding in his hand. Immediately there was a cry of pain from the one trapped inside the net as he was electrocuted.

"Ouch, that looks painful!" Yukito commented at the smoking black lump inside the net.

"Electric Steel Net v.2, guaranteed to render people trapped inside knocked out," offered Ryoga even though no one asked.

They searched for the defeated team's scroll and found it inside their pack. Unfortunately it was an Earth scroll. "Aw sucks! And I was hoping to break the time record too! Oey Ryoga, what are you doing?" Shugo sent an odd look to his teammate who had jabbed a needle into the electrocuted ninja.

"Just making sure they won't be able to pass the exam. It's a strong sedative that even managed to knock out the E-class demon Threon for a day. Never been used on humans before and I have hope that I can gather some important data from him." He then jabbed another needle with brown liquid into the other genin. "And this one is a time delayed laxative. I got it from Netto who got it from his friend who got it from his relative who works in Poison R&D. Pretty strong according to him. Why not just give him another sedative? Because it's fun of course," his teammates gave him funny looks.

0-0 0-0 0-0

Momoka hated to say this but this guy was tough. He was fast even if he wasn't stronger than her. He didn't allow her the time to use ninjutsu and genjutsu, and instead engaged her in a direct fight. His taijutsu skill wasn't that good, only slightly better than herself and she wasn't much of taijutsu user, but it was problematic because he incorporated lightning element into his taijutsu. With a touch he would be able to electrocute her, shocking her nerves. And because he was faster than her it was hard to avoid his strike.

"Guys, I _really_ need your help, right now!" she stumbled after he put a light tap on her thigh. She hissed in pain.

"Sorry, but I'm in a bind!" was Suou's answer, who was busy fighting his opponent.

"Give me a minute and I'll help you!" was Akira's shout.

"Don't talk as if you will win this, you bastard!" Akira's opponent yelled angrily.

"Ah geez," she clutched her wobbling leg, thinking of a way to escape. She sent a kunai with a tag to her assailant. He dodged the explosion, which gave her a time to use ninjutsu. Most of her techniques were suiton, which was weak against raiton, so she was careful to choose. "That's it! Kirigakure no jutsu!" immediately mist covered the area.

"Thanks, girl!" her teammates were now given advantage. They were used to fighting blindly for it was part of their training.

"You bitch!" Momoka's opponent shouted angrily.

"Hah! Let's see if you can win now!" she created five mizu bunshin.

"Raiton: Static Wave!" It was a wide area attack. He might not be able to find where she was exactly, but he would be able to shock her senseless if she entered his field.

"Uh-oh!" Momoka backed off as fast as she could, which was difficult because she was impeded by her weak leg. One of her bunshin caught her wrist and threw her off to avoid the static wave, but not before the wave reached her ankles and rendered them useless. She cried in pain, as she landed on the forest floor.

"Momoka!" Suou left his blinded opponent to reach his wounded teammate.

The Cloud genin grinned in success as he followed the source of the noise. He was halfway toward her when he unexpectedly tripped on a small stone and kissed the ground. He growled in embarrassment and swore to kill her painfully.

In her desperation, the red head sent a bunshin to act as a decoy, while she stayed as silent as she could.

"It's no use trying to escape me!" Unfortunately mizu bunshin's intelligent wasn't high enough to carry out a conversation, so it stayed silent. It threw kunai toward him; one of them grazed the Cloud genin on his cheek. "I'll get you for this!" he knew something was wrong when she didn't reply to his barb. "Raiton: raitoradan!" a lightning tiger roared and attacked the ground opposite the direction of mizu bunshin, which was the place she was thrown at. He grinned when he heard the shriek of pain coming from her mouth. She might not be hit by the jutsu directly, but he was able to hurt her. "If you think your bunshin will help you hide, you're mistaken, girl!"

"I've got the scroll!" Suou shouted from wherever he was. The Cloud genin who attacked Momoka turned in shock.

Akira appeared beside his wounded teammate. "I've got her!" he picked her up roughly, causing her to moan. "Let's go!" the Sky genin faded.

"Hakou! Rikou!" the Cloud genin called his friends. With no one to maintain the technique, the mist was starting to fade. He found his unconscious teammates five minutes later. Fortunately none of them was wounded harshly, but he couldn't find their team's scroll. He gritted his teeth and punched a nearby trunk, only for him to retract and rub it in pain as he grimaced. "I'm so going to bury them alive!" he swore. Unfortunately he had to treat his teammates first, so the promise would have to be withheld for a moment.

… … …

"Stupid scroll!" Suou muttered at the Heaven scroll in his hand. "It isn't the one we needed and Moka is hurt!" Right now they were heading toward Team 2. Among the nine genin, Towa was the best when it came to medic jutsu.

"Towa, we need your help. Aa, Momoka is hurt. It's Cloud. We were able to escape. We have their scroll though, but it's Earth." Akira reported to his fellow comrade. "Team 1 got Heaven scroll? That's great then. What about your team? Really? Then can we rendezvous somewhere? Okay, we'll head there." The red headed male turned to his black haired friend. "We can exchange the scroll with Shugo's Earth scroll. They have two of them. Team 2 already got their own scrolls. We have to meet them at the huge tree we passed on our way here."

"That place? Alright." They took a route where they wouldn't meet up with other teams.

After patching up the wounded girl, Sky teams headed to the designated tower deep inside the forest. Meanwhile Shugo sent his disguised summoned sharns to collect all transmitters and mini cameras from the forest, with the exception of those which were carried unknowingly by other contestants.

When they arrived at the tower, their escorts were already there to greet them.

"—Basically those words mean you should have both brain and brawn. The Leaf-nin who told us the meaning—even if we didn't need his explanation by the way—used big words and long sentences. He should just get to the point," Aiko grumbled, recalling the event that had been played not even an hour ago.

"Hey, what should we do with these?" Shugo looked pointedly at the scrolls.

"Open it. With the combination of both Earth and Heaven, someone will be summoned to tell you that you've passed. No need to wait for him. They already knew that you guys had arrived here and passed. Hearing some dumb lecture isn't one of the conditions to pass the exam." The genin did as they were told and left the place before the smoke of summoning dissipated, leaving a confused summoned proctor in their wake.

All Sky teams were accounted for and passed the second exam.

0-0 0-0 0-0

** Wave**

The citizens were awakened from their slumbers by an earthquake, the heavy chakra that washed through the island and the heart-stopping noise. They immediately dashed out of their houses in panic. When they got outside they were greeted by a breathtaking view, causing them to forget the earthquake for a moment. A strong bluish light reached the sky and illuminated the world. For a moment the night was the day. The moonlight was beaten by this blinding beam.

"APOCALYPSE!! God is punishing us!" someone shouted in fright and prayed right where he was standing. That shout broke the people' astonishment and they ran like headless chicken. They only stopped when the light was gone and the earthquake stopped.

"W-what happened?" someone voiced up, but no one there could answer it.

Those who could answer the question were cheering in happiness and satisfaction. After years of hard work and research they succeeded in creating a chakra barrier to protect their home village from intruders. With the exception of Fune Island and several smaller islands surrounding it, the others were protected by the newly erected barrier. Only those who had the fox seal could pass through it safely. Others would spontaneously combust. The invisible barrier was anchored into six shuseki spheres, of which one was the biggest. The perfectly round spheres were heavily covered with interconnected seals. People would need magnifying glasses to be able to read the seals.

The plan for the barrier was first developed ten years ago and was done in six years, but there were glitches that needed to be ironed out. For example, animals and plants would also combust on contact. Since people needed food, the barrier was deemed unsuccessful. They had perfected the seals in another four years which allowed normal animals to enter and exit the perimeter, but would attack summoned animals on contact. Of course since some ninjas raised unsummoned animals such as Inuzuka and Aburame, their hounds and bugs would be able to enter this place without repercussion, but it was deemed the best one they could come up with.

One of Naruto's worries about last night's operation was that someone saw the flying islands. The chakra beam last night had parted the clouds for a moment before it turned dark once again, providing temporary cover for Sky. The cloud making machines were working full time to create enough cloud to hide Sky from prying eyes. But so far no rumor about it had appeared, so he could breathe a sigh of relief at the moment. Now he was back to his usual job: overseeing Sky. Right now he was reading the trading files. So far it was good, which alleviated one of his worries.

If Sky had an income source other than payment from missions, they would not need to rely on clients. They wouldn't be forced to accept a client to make money and thus would be able to choose whether to accept a mission or not. This way they could reject unsavory missions. It would do no good to create this village because of moral reason and then threw out said moral because they had to make money to survive. He hoped that Sky's trade would give more than half of Sky's entire income. He had to be careful regulating said trade because he didn't want civilians to have more say than ninjas in the system. Sky was a hidden village and thus it was the military who was handling the village. He didn't want Sky to turn out like Konoha, where the civilians had considerable weigh in its decisions. Not that he didn't appreciate civilians, but he thought they would just complicate things in a hidden village. Civilians just weren't trained to see things in a ninja's way.

Naruto stamped an approval to demolish a part of the forest in Amefuru Island to change it into farms. He wanted to expand Sky's agriculture to make sure the village was self sufficient and would not need to import most of its food like most hidden villages did. The blond was hoping that Sky could enter a contract with several farming villages nearby to supply them with fresh food. With them no longer staying permanently in Aoigetsukai, the hunt was cut down considerably and meat stock had started to dwindle. Maybe it would be a good idea to turn several lands Sky owned outside the country into farming and industrial villages. That way it was assured that even if other countries banned their products from entering Sky market, the village would still have a running supply. The problem was Sky didn't have a sufficient number of people to make this idea a reality. Perhaps he could propose the idea to the council. Maybe one of them had an idea how to go on with it.

Everything else had been going well, but he had a hunch that something was going to happen, something big. Naruto shook his head, trying to clear it from unpleasant thought. He wondered how his son was faring in Konoha.

0-0 0-0 0-0

"ACHOO!!" Shugo sniffed.

"God blast you," Yukito offered his best friend who was glaring daggers at him.

"Don't you mean bless me?"

"I don't see how He could bless you with a sneeze," the white haired boy replied without missing a beat. "Beside you think God is going to bless those who worship a demon of all things?" he remarked.

"I bet someone is talking about you, Shugo-kun!" Suou grinned from his seat.

"If I sneeze every time someone is talking about me, I would have to spend my day sneezing every second," Naruto's first son said grouchily.

"Man, aren't you vain. You're not _that_ popular," Yukito sniggered. Shugo sent him an evil eye that promised him pain.

"You think it's Kazuhi?" Noa piped in.

"Oh please, that boy is always talking about him, and not in a good way. He's complaining about Shugo all the time. Man, that guy really needs a hobby," Momoka flipped the magazine in her hand from her bed. Her twisted ankle was already healed, so she could move fine. She suddenly threw the magazine at the wall. "Dammit, I'm freakin' bored! Bored! Bored! Bored!" she repeated it like a mantra.

"It's not like we can train here. And there are still four days left. Hm…anyone bring cards?" Noa's twinkling eyes dimmed when the others shook their heads. "Damn!"

"I have this game installer. You can install the game to your computer," Ryoga offered.

"Fine, it's not like we have anything else to do."

When the jounin entered the room they found their genin were watching their laptop screen intently.

"This game sucks! If it's a reality I would have been able to track on the rooftop instead of scouring the ground!" Momoka had half the mind to throw the laptop in her hold, but there would be repercussion for that, so she held back.

"Doesn't change the fact you're dead," Suou pointed out. The red head snarled, her hand inching toward her weapon pouch.

"You. Are. Dead! You hear me!? DEAD AS IN DEAD DEAD!" the other scrambled to their feet and ran away from the fuming kunoichi, as she threw her kunais around the room.

"I say we leave them alone," Shouji suggested. The other two jounin sweatdropped at the sight.

"Yeah. That would be a good idea," Aiko agreed. Kaguya Kimimaro looked on in concern as his son barely dodged a kunai thrown by his mad comrade, before shaking his head incredulously.

0-0 0-0 0-0

Haku was happy. At last he was freed from his crazy cousin and his infuriating manner. Haru had a mission that would likely last for two weeks. That would mean two weeks without the chattering box and his grating smile. Unfortunately his aunt was still his neighbour and didn't plan to move anytime soon, especially when her nephew was there. While she wasn't as bad as her son, his aunt was a wee bit affectionate. Too much affection from her did him no good at all.

She was also weird. She always spouted of how manly her son and her nephew were. Perhaps that was why her son turned out loony. Haku wondered if he should tell her he was often mistaken for a woman—a pretty one at that—if only to have her off his back. But he had a feeling that particular nuance would result in her being more clingy and tried to convert him back to the rightful way. Haku shivered just from the thought of it.

The young man spent his days adjusting to this strange place. After his shock at the revelation that he was standing on a hovering island and much recently; that the people here seemed to worship a demon of all things, and not the normal demon, but honest to goodness the friggin' ninetails, the strongest out of all bijuu, Haku was dragged by his relatives around the place so to speak. Haku believed that if he had a faint heart he surely would have had a heart attack by then.

Still, no matter how displaced he was feeling, he knew that it was a good place. The people were nice and in good health. Apparently Naruto or Sora as he was occasionally called, had saved the people from poverty and death. He kinda reminded him of Zabuza-san with the way his people idolized him and thought he could do no wrong like Haku was to Zabuza. In fact he was sure that if the blond had been the one to save him instead of Zabuza, he would've joined their groupie. Well, groupie or not at least they weren't rabid like those mad fangirls.

One of the few flaws he could find about Sky so far was that the people seemed to be too idealistic. He would like to say they were naïve, but that wasn't true. Maybe it was because Zabuza didn't coddle him and thus he had to face the truth the hard way, but the fact was that these people often saw things in black and white. Unfortunately real life wasn't black or white. Sometimes you had to make an alliance with an enemy, and someone you trust could turn traitor in a heartbeat. Then again Sky had solved the traitor problem with the fox seal. He had to admit the seal was ingenious and a real state of the art, but he wondered if in the future the seal would be abused just like the Hyuuga did with their cage seal. The seal still took away free will, if you saw it from a certain viewpoint and wanted to get technical, but it wasn't like he could complain about that. Shinobi was a tool after all.

Haku couldn't help but wonder why they didn't make Zabuza a Sky ninja too. While he was a missing-nin, he had great skill. He didn't think there were many kenjutsu specialists and Zabuza was clearly one of them. And with the fox seal Sky wouldn't have to worry about him turning a traitor.

"Hiyaa, coz! Miss me already?" Haku didn't dare to turn around to face the source of the voice. It couldn't be. The man was supposed to be on a mission for at least two weeks, starting yesterday. Unfortunately his cousin didn't give him a choice to make, because he suddenly stood beside Sky's latest resident, and wrapped an arm around Haku's shoulder. "You look kinda pale, are you alright?" Haku wondered if his cousin was being sarcastic.

"H-how? I thought you were given a two weeks mission at minimum?" the black haired male stammered.

"Oh that? Turns out the mission was accidentally completed by another jounin team when they were doing their mission.

God, no! He wouldn't last another day without a break from his cousin! Haku despaired. Deep in his heart he wondered if suicide would be preferable, if only to get away from this leech.

Yup! Suicide did seem wonderful right now.

0-0 0-0 0-0

"CEIL!!" Mamoru laughed as he launched himself at the bird.

The white feathered demon bird sighed. "How many times have I told you, brat, that it's Sheil're and definitely _not_ Ceil nor Ree!" He was proud of his name, dammit!

"Ah poo," the red head pouted, then grinned widely. "You're just being silly, Ree. It's an easier name, see?" the bird squawked indignantly. He opened his beak to say something then suddenly clamped it shut.

"Guh, Never mind, it wasn't like you're going to listen anyway."

"See? You can be taught!" the child grinned in victory.

"Annoying brat!" the bird mumbled.

"Aw, but you love me anyway." The bird rolled his eyes, as if saying 'yeah, right!' "Ne ne, I want to go to the meadow. Fly me there?"

"What do I look like for? A transport bird?" he grumbled. "Get one of my brethren! Now be gone, I was enjoying my sunbathing when you interrupted me."

"You know if you laze around like this you're going to become fat," Sheil're choked. Him? Fat? Him? No fuckin' way! "And what better way to stay fit other than spread your wings?"

"You're not going to go away if I don't do this, are you?" the bird sent a suspicious look at the kid.

"Yep!" Mamoru nodded enthusiastically.

The bird scowled. "You don't have to sound happy. Fine kid, I'll transport you, but you'll have to find a ride back yourself."

"Yay!" the youngest son of Naruto cheered. Of course he planned to have him as his next transport too, but for now 'Ree' didn't have to know that. Mamoru grinned mischievously.

Sheil're grumbled. "This is so degrading. I, Sheil're, son of Kielle, had to turn into a lowly transport of all things! Mother must be laughing her ass off right now." To follow the whim of a human child, even if he was Naruto's youngest was too embarrassing.

Naruto observed the scene with a small smile. Mamoru was too intelligent for his own good and had wrapped the sharn boss around his finger and he wasn't even five years old yet. Naruto was so proud.

The man continued his walk to his office, occasionally nodding to the villagers who greeted him. He had a meeting with several academy teachers and jounin instructors over their chuunin exam. He had planned to get the genin months of intense training and study before the exam start to prepare the young kids and this meeting would decide what they planned to teach to the kids.

Unlike other exams where hidden villages used them as another way to wage war without political repercussion by having their own genin compete with others'. Sky didn't see the need to do so. This exam was private and no other village was invited. This exam was not to cull the number of chuunin hopeful, but to prepare them for their future job, thereby cutting down the number of casualties in real life. Rather than exam, Naruto preferred to name it intense base camp. It wouldn't be much different from what they usually did. The genin would have to perform their best in a test and then the instructors would later show them where they got it wrong and how to improve themselves. The difference was that it would be much harder and longer and there would be a rank rise, which meant pay rise too.

He hummed happily, eager to hear what the others had concocted for the next generation. Grinning, the leader of Sky walked faster.

0-0 0-0 0-0

"Hey Ryoga, what's this red button for?" Shugo fiddled with a rectangular gadget curiously.

"Be careful, that's fo—" it was cut off when he saw the gadget slip away from his teammate's hold. Yukito who was hovering behind Shugo caught the thing reflexively, but not before he accidentally pressed the button on the gadget.

"GYARGHHH!!!" they were interrupted by loud screams from the forest.

"Whoops! It has nothing to do with this, right? Right?" the white haired boy nervously asked, handing the device to his geeky friend.

"…Actually it activates the self destruct system on the transmitters we put on the other genin. The difference with what I did this morning is that it activates _all_ of them, not just selected ones."

"…oh," was the only thing the Kaguya boy able to say.

"Chill out, Yuki! It's not like those people are our allies. 'Sides maybe it will cut down the number of participants!" Shugo patted his friend's shoulder reassuringly.

Yukito opened his mouth to disagree, but then closed his mouth, as he was thinking. He then shrugged. "If you say so," and went back to his bed.

"A pity," Ryoga muttered. "I would've liked to learn more about the others first before I activated the self destruct system, but maybe this is for the best," he sighed as he threw the now useless detonator in the bin.

Those who had the transmitter on them exploded would not agree with Ryoga's assessment of what was the best, but it wasn't like they knew the culprit or even understood exactly what had just happened. The next day was pretty quiet for most of the genin had to lick their wounds and retreat to fix their burns.

**TBC…**

At last the barrier to shield Sky's non-hovering island is online. At first I was writing the details of the process, but then scrapped the idea. This chapter's purpose is to make it clear for readers about Sky's advancement in technology.

Poor Haku is making an appearance too, even if it is brief :D


End file.
